Cloud infrastructure resources for connecting a service provider private network to a customer private network

ABSTRACT

Techniques for providing, to a resource on a private network of a service provider, access to a resource on a private network of a customer. Service to customer (S2C) resources deployed on a cloud infrastructure to facilitate the access. Whereas IP address ranges may overlap between private networks and/or private IP addresses may be used in one or more of the private networks, the S2C resources enable the data exchange between the private networks. For example, the S2C resources translate between IP addresses such that data within each private network uses IP addresses that can be properly processed by the private network.

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 17/347,061 filed on Jun. 14, 2021, entitled “CLOUD INSTRUCTURE RESOURCES FOR CONNECTING A SERVICE PROVIDER PRIVATE NETWORK TO A CUSTOMER PRIVATE NETWORK,” which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/149,273, filed on Feb. 13, 2021, entitled “CLOUD INSTRUCTURE RESOURCES FOR CONNECTING A SERVICE PROVIDER PRIVATE NETWORK TO A CUSTOMER PRIVATE NETWORK,” which applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

A cloud infrastructure, such as Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), can provide a set of complementary cloud services that enable enterprises to build and run a wide range of applications and services in a highly available hosted environment. Enterprises need a cloud environment that replicates their on premises data center environment while providing all the benefits of the public cloud. A cloud infrastructure can offer high-performance compute, storage, and network capabilities in a flexible overlay virtual network that runs on top of the physical underlay network and that is securely accessible from an enterprise's on premises network. A cloud infrastructure, such as OCI, allows enterprises to manage their cloud-based workloads in the same way they manage their on premises workloads, and many existing on premises applications can be quickly migrated without making changes to the applications themselves. Thus, organizations can get all the benefits of the cloud with the same control, isolation, security, and predictable performance as their on premises network.

Virtual networking is a foundation for cloud infrastructures and cloud applications because virtual networking enables the ability to access, connect, secure, and modify cloud resources. Virtual networking enables communication between multiple computers, virtual machines (VMs), virtual servers, or other devices across different physical locations. While physical networking connects computer systems through cabling and other hardware, virtual networking uses software management to connect computers and servers in different physical locations over the Internet. A virtual network uses virtualized versions of traditional network components, such as network switches, routers, and adapters, allowing for more efficient routing and easier network configuration and reconfiguration.

Entities, such as customers and service providers, can configure private networks that are deployed on a cloud infrastructure. Such private networks can be referred to also as virtual private networks or virtual cloud networks. Generally, private networks are isolated such that access to each of the private networks is tightly controlled. For instance, a private network of one entity may be inaccessible to another entity and data may not be exchanged between their private networks.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The present disclosure relates generally to virtual networking. More particularly, techniques are described for providing, to a resource on a private network of a service provider, access to a resource on a private network of a customer. This access may be provided via a set of network resources on a cloud infrastructure that virtualizes at least a portion of each of the two private networks. The access may be referred to herein as service provider to customer or service to consumer access and may be abbreviated as “S2C” access for brevity.

According to certain embodiments of the present disclosure, the two private networks may have overlapping Internet Protocol (IP) address ranges (e.g., Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) ranges). Additionally or alternatively, the private networks of multiple customers may have overlapping IP address ranges. Further, each private may have its own set of private IP addresses even when no IP address range overlap exists.

The network resources of the cloud infrastructure are configured to provide the S2C access by implementing different network functionalities. These resources may be referred herein as “S2C resources” for brevity. The network functionalities include translating between IP addresses of the two private networks in support of an inbound packet flow from the service provider's resource to the customer's resource and outbound packet flow from the customer's resource to the service provider's resource.

In a domain name system (DNS) context, a DNS query by the service provider's resource (e.g., an instance in the service provider's virtual cloud network) is resolved by the S2C resources to a reserved IP address that is mapped to an IP address of the customer's private network (e.g., a private endpoint in the customer's virtual cloud network). The inbound packet flow out of the service provider's private network uses the reserved IP address as the destination. The S2C resources update that destination address to the customer's IP address for entry into the customer's private network. Conversely, the outbound packet flow out of the customer's private network uses the customer's IP address as the source. The S2C resources update that source address to the reserved IP address for entry into the service provider's private network.

In a real application cluster (RAC) context, the S2C resources receive RAC traffic from a service provider's resource (e.g., an instance in the service provider's virtual cloud network), where this RAC traffic has source and destination IP addresses of the service provider's private network. These IP address are updated to IP addresses of the customer's private network and the RAC traffic is sent thereto. Conversely, the S2C resources receive RAC response from a customer's resource (e.g., a database service in the customer's virtual cloud network), where this RAC response has the source and destination IP addresses of the customer's private network. These IP address are updated to the IP addresses of the service provider's private network and the RAC response is sent thereto.

For each service provider to customer pair, a specific set of the resources can be deployed. The cloud infrastructure includes a fleet of virtualization devices that provide virtual network interface cards (VNICs). VNICs attach to the S2C resources. VNICs also attach to the two private clouds, where these VNICs may be of different type than the S2C resources' VNICs. The data exchanged between the two private networks via the S2C resources flows through the VNICs.

This summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used in isolation to determine the scope of the claimed subject matter. The subject matter should be understood by reference to appropriate portions of the entire specification of this disclosure, any or all drawings, and each claim.

The foregoing, together with other features and embodiments, will become more apparent upon referring to the following specification, claims, and accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Illustrative examples are described in detail below with reference to the following figures.

FIG. 1 is a high level diagram of a distributed environment showing a virtual or overlay cloud network hosted by a cloud service provider infrastructure according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 2 depicts a simplified architectural diagram of the physical components in the physical network within CSPI according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 3 shows an example arrangement within CSPI where a host machine is connected to multiple network virtualization devices (NVDs) according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 4 depicts connectivity between a host machine and an NVD for providing I/O virtualization for supporting multitenancy according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 5 depicts a simplified block diagram of a physical network provided by a CSPI according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of an S2C service between private networks, according to at least one embodiment.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a service provider private network connected with a customer private network via a set of S2C resources in support of DNS traffic and unproxied S2 traffic, according to at least one embodiment.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a service provider private network connected with a customer private network via a set of S2C resources in support of RAC traffic, according to at least one embodiment.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of components of a service provider private network, according to at least one embodiment.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of components of a customer private network, according to at least one embodiment.

FIG. 11 illustrates example of components of a cloud infrastructure that implements S2C resources, according to at least one embodiment.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a DNS traffic, according to at least one embodiment.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of unproxied traffic, according to at least one embodiment.

FIG. 14 depicts another example of a DNS traffic, according to at least one embodiment.

FIG. 15 depicts an example of RAC traffic, according to at least one embodiment.

FIG. 16 depicts an example of a flow for providing S2C services, according to at least one embodiment.

FIG. 17 depicts an example of a flow for supporting DNS traffic, unproxied traffic, and RAC traffic by a service provider private network, according to at least one embodiment.

FIG. 18 depicts an example of a flow for supporting DNS traffic, unproxied traffic, and RAC traffic by a customer private network, according to at least one embodiment.

FIG. 19 depicts an example of a flow for supporting a DNS service by S2C resources, according to at least one embodiment.

FIG. 20 depicts an example of a flow for supporting unproxied S2C traffic, according to at least one embodiment.

FIG. 21 depicts an example of a flow for supporting a RAC service by S2C resources, according to at least one embodiment.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram illustrating one pattern for implementing a cloud infrastructure as a service system, according to at least one embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram illustrating another pattern for implementing a cloud infrastructure as a service system, according to at least one embodiment.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram illustrating another pattern for implementing a cloud infrastructure as a service system, according to at least one embodiment.

FIG. 25 is a block diagram illustrating another pattern for implementing a cloud infrastructure as a service system, according to at least one embodiment.

FIG. 26 is a block diagram illustrating an example computer system, according to at least one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure relates generally to virtual networking, and more particularly to providing, to a resource on a private network of a service provider, access to a resource on a private network of a customer. S2C resources are deployed on a cloud infrastructure to facilitate the access. Whereas IP address ranges may overlap between private networks, and/or whereas private IP addresses may be used in one or more of the private networks, the S2C resources enable the data exchange between the private networks. For example, the S2C resources translate between IP addresses such that data within each private network uses IP addresses that can be properly processed by the private network. The cloud infrastructure includes a fleet of virtualization devices that provide virtual network interface cards (VNICs). For each service provider-customer pair, a set of S2C resources is deployed and VNICs attach to these resources and to the private network. The data exchange flows through the VNICs and the S2C resources.

Example Virtual Networking Architectures

The term cloud service is generally used to refer to a service that is made available by a cloud services provider (CSP) to users or customers on demand (e.g., via a subscription model) using systems and infrastructure (cloud infrastructure) provided by the CSP. Typically, the servers and systems that make up the CSP's infrastructure are separate from the customer's own on-premise servers and systems. Customers can thus avail themselves of cloud services provided by the CSP without having to purchase separate hardware and software resources for the services. Cloud services are designed to provide a subscribing customer easy, scalable access to applications and computing resources without the customer having to invest in procuring the infrastructure that is used for providing the services.

There are several cloud service providers that offer various types of cloud services. There are various different types or models of cloud services including Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), and others.

A customer can subscribe to one or more cloud services provided by a CSP. The customer can be any entity such as an individual, an organization, an enterprise, and the like. When a customer subscribes to or registers for a service provided by a CSP, a tenancy or an account is created for that customer. The customer can then, via this account, access the subscribed-to one or more cloud resources associated with the account.

As noted above, infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is one particular type of cloud computing service. In an IaaS model, the CSP provides infrastructure (referred to as cloud services provider infrastructure or CSPI) that can be used by customers to build their own customizable networks and deploy customer resources. The customer's resources and networks are thus hosted in a distributed environment by infrastructure provided by a CSP. This is different from traditional computing, where the customer's resources and networks are hosted by infrastructure provided by the customer.

The CSPI may comprise interconnected high-performance compute resources including various host machines, memory resources, and network resources that form a physical network, which is also referred to as a substrate network or an underlay network. The resources in CSPI may be spread across one or more data centers that may be geographically spread across one or more geographical regions. Virtualization software may be executed by these physical resources to provide a virtualized distributed environment. The virtualization creates an overlay network (also known as a software-based network, a software-defined network, or a virtual network) over the physical network. The CSPI physical network provides the underlying basis for creating one or more overlay or virtual networks on top of the physical network. The virtual or overlay networks can include one or more virtual cloud networks (VCNs). The virtual networks are implemented using software virtualization technologies (e.g., hypervisors, functions performed by network virtualization devices (NVDs) (e.g., smartNICs), top-of-rack (TOR) switches, smart TORs that implement one or more functions performed by an NVD, and other mechanisms) to create layers of network abstraction that can be run on top of the physical network. Virtual networks can take on many forms, including peer-to-peer networks, IP networks, and others. Virtual networks are typically either Layer-3 IP networks or Layer-2 VLANs. This method of virtual or overlay networking is often referred to as virtual or overlay Layer-3 networking. Examples of protocols developed for virtual networks include IP-in-IP (or Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE)), Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN-IETF RFC 7348), Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) (e.g., MPLS Layer-3 Virtual Private Networks (RFC 4364)), VMware's NSX, GENEVE (Generic Network Virtualization Encapsulation), and others.

For IaaS, the infrastructure (CSPI) provided by a CSP can be configured to provide virtualized computing resources over a public network (e.g., the Internet). In an IaaS model, a cloud computing services provider can host the infrastructure components (e.g., servers, storage devices, network nodes (e.g., hardware), deployment software, platform virtualization (e.g., a hypervisor layer), or the like). In some cases, an IaaS provider may also supply a variety of services to accompany those infrastructure components (e.g., billing, monitoring, logging, security, load balancing and clustering, etc.). Thus, as these services may be policy-driven, IaaS users may be able to implement policies to drive load balancing to maintain application availability and performance. CSPI provides infrastructure and a set of complementary cloud services that enable customers to build and run a wide range of applications and services in a highly available hosted distributed environment. CSPI offers high-performance compute resources and capabilities and storage capacity in a flexible virtual network that is securely accessible from various networked locations such as from a customer's on-premises network. When a customer subscribes to or registers for an IaaS service provided by a CSP, the tenancy created for that customer is a secure and isolated partition within the CSPI where the customer can create, organize, and administer their cloud resources.

Customers can build their own virtual networks using compute, memory, and networking resources provided by CSPI. One or more customer resources or workloads, such as compute instances, can be deployed on these virtual networks. For example, a customer can use resources provided by CSPI to build one or multiple customizable and private virtual network(s) referred to as virtual cloud networks (VCNs). A customer can deploy one or more customer resources, such as compute instances, on a customer VCN. Compute instances can take the form of virtual machines, bare metal instances, and the like. The CSPI thus provides infrastructure and a set of complementary cloud services that enable customers to build and run a wide range of applications and services in a highly available virtual hosted environment. The customer does not manage or control the underlying physical resources provided by CSPI but has control over operating systems, storage, and deployed applications; and possibly limited control of select networking components (e.g., firewalls).

The CSP may provide a console that enables customers and network administrators to configure, access, and manage resources deployed in the cloud using CSPI resources. In certain embodiments, the console provides a web-based user interface that can be used to access and manage CSPI. In some implementations, the console is a web-based application provided by the CSP.

CSPI may support single-tenancy or multi-tenancy architectures. In a single tenancy architecture, a software (e.g., an application, a database) or a hardware component (e.g., a host machine or a server) serves a single customer or tenant. In a multi-tenancy architecture, a software or a hardware component serves multiple customers or tenants. Thus, in a multi-tenancy architecture, CSPI resources are shared between multiple customers or tenants. In a multi-tenancy situation, precautions are taken and safeguards put in place within CSPI to ensure that each tenant's data is isolated and remains invisible to other tenants.

In a physical network, a network endpoint (“endpoint”) refers to a computing device or system that is connected to a physical network and communicates back and forth with the network to which it is connected. A network endpoint in the physical network may be connected to a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), or other type of physical network. Examples of traditional endpoints in a physical network include modems, hubs, bridges, switches, routers, and other networking devices, physical computers (or host machines), and the like. Each physical device in the physical network has a fixed network address that can be used to communicate with the device. This fixed network address can be a Layer-2 address (e.g., a MAC address), a fixed Layer-3 address (e.g., an IP address), and the like. In a virtualized environment or in a virtual network, the endpoints can include various virtual endpoints such as virtual machines that are hosted by components of the physical network (e.g., hosted by physical host machines). These endpoints in the virtual network are addressed by overlay addresses such as overlay Layer-2 addresses (e.g., overlay MAC addresses) and overlay Layer-3 addresses (e.g., overlay IP addresses). Network overlays enable flexibility by allowing network managers to move around the overlay addresses associated with network endpoints using software management (e.g., via software implementing a control plane for the virtual network). Accordingly, unlike in a physical network, in a virtual network, an overlay address (e.g., an overlay IP address) can be moved from one endpoint to another using network management software. Since the virtual network is built on top of a physical network, communications between components in the virtual network involves both the virtual network and the underlying physical network. In order to facilitate such communications, the components of CSPI are configured to learn and store mappings that map overlay addresses in the virtual network to actual physical addresses in the substrate network, and vice versa. These mappings are then used to facilitate the communications. Customer traffic is encapsulated to facilitate routing in the virtual network.

Accordingly, physical addresses (e.g., physical IP addresses) are associated with components in physical networks and overlay addresses (e.g., overlay IP addresses) are associated with entities in virtual networks. Both the physical IP addresses and overlay IP addresses are types of real IP addresses. These are separate from virtual IP addresses, where a virtual IP address maps to multiple real IP addresses. A virtual IP address provides a 1-to-many mapping between the virtual IP address and multiple real IP addresses.

The cloud infrastructure or CSPI is physically hosted in one or more data centers in one or more regions around the world. The CSPI may include components in the physical or substrate network and virtualized components (e.g., virtual networks, compute instances, virtual machines, etc.) that are in an virtual network built on top of the physical network components. In certain embodiments, the CSPI is organized and hosted in realms, regions and availability domains. A region is typically a localized geographic area that contains one or more data centers. Regions are generally independent of each other and can be separated by vast distances, for example, across countries or even continents. For example, a first region may be in Australia, another one in Japan, yet another one in India, and the like. CSPI resources are divided among regions such that each region has its own independent subset of CSPI resources. Each region may provide a set of core infrastructure services and resources, such as, compute resources (e.g., bare metal servers, virtual machine, containers and related infrastructure, etc.); storage resources (e.g., block volume storage, file storage, object storage, archive storage); networking resources (e.g., virtual cloud networks (VCNs), load balancing resources, connections to on-premise networks), database resources; edge networking resources (e.g., DNS); and access management and monitoring resources, and others. Each region generally has multiple paths connecting it to other regions in the realm.

Generally, an application is deployed in a region (i.e., deployed on infrastructure associated with that region) where it is most heavily used, because using nearby resources is faster than using distant resources. Applications can also be deployed in different regions for various reasons, such as redundancy to mitigate the risk of region-wide events such as large weather systems or earthquakes, to meet varying requirements for legal jurisdictions, tax domains, and other business or social criteria, and the like.

The data centers within a region can be further organized and subdivided into availability domains (ADs). An availability domain may correspond to one or more data centers located within a region. A region can be composed of one or more availability domains. In such a distributed environment, CSPI resources are either region-specific, such as a virtual cloud network (VCN), or availability domain-specific, such as a compute instance.

ADs within a region are isolated from each other, fault tolerant, and are configured such that they are very unlikely to fail simultaneously. This is achieved by the ADs not sharing critical infrastructure resources such as networking, physical cables, cable paths, cable entry points, etc., such that a failure at one AD within a region is unlikely to impact the availability of the other ADs within the same region. The ADs within the same region may be connected to each other by a low latency, high bandwidth network, which makes it possible to provide high-availability connectivity to other networks (e.g., the Internet, customers' on-premise networks, etc.) and to build replicated systems in multiple ADs for both high-availability and disaster recovery. Cloud services use multiple ADs to ensure high availability and to protect against resource failure. As the infrastructure provided by the IaaS provider grows, more regions and ADs may be added with additional capacity. Traffic between availability domains is usually encrypted.

In certain embodiments, regions are grouped into realms. A realm is a logical collection of regions. Realms are isolated from each other and do not share any data. Regions in the same realm may communicate with each other, but regions in different realms cannot. A customer's tenancy or account with the CSP exists in a single realm and can be spread across one or more regions that belong to that realm. Typically, when a customer subscribes to an IaaS service, a tenancy or account is created for that customer in the customer-specified region (referred to as the “home” region) within a realm. A customer can extend the customer's tenancy across one or more other regions within the realm. A customer cannot access regions that are not in the realm where the customer's tenancy exists.

An IaaS provider can provide multiple realms, each realm catered to a particular set of customers or users. For example, a commercial realm may be provided for commercial customers. As another example, a realm may be provided for a specific country for customers within that country. As yet another example, a government realm may be provided for a government, and the like. For example, the government realm may be catered for a specific government and may have a heightened level of security than a commercial realm. For example, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) currently offers a realm for commercial regions and two realms (e.g., FedRAMP authorized and IL5 authorized) for government cloud regions.

In certain embodiments, an AD can be subdivided into one or more fault domains. A fault domain is a grouping of infrastructure resources within an AD to provide anti-affinity. Fault domains allow for the distribution of compute instances such that the instances are not on the same physical hardware within a single AD. This is known as anti-affinity. A fault domain refers to a set of hardware components (computers, switches, and more) that share a single point of failure. A compute pool is logically divided up into fault domains. Due to this, a hardware failure or compute hardware maintenance event that affects one fault domain does not affect instances in other fault domains. Depending on the embodiment, the number of fault domains for each AD may vary. For instance, in certain embodiments each AD contains three fault domains. A fault domain acts as a logical data center within an AD.

When a customer subscribes to an IaaS service, resources from CSPI are provisioned for the customer and associated with the customer's tenancy. The customer can use these provisioned resources to build private networks and deploy resources on these networks. The customer networks that are hosted in the cloud by the CSPI are referred to as virtual cloud networks (VCNs). A customer can set up one or more virtual cloud networks (VCNs) using CSPI resources allocated for the customer. A VCN is a virtual or software defined private network. The customer resources that are deployed in the customer's VCN can include compute instances (e.g., virtual machines, bare-metal instances) and other resources. These compute instances may represent various customer workloads such as applications, load balancers, databases, and the like. A compute instance deployed on a VCN can communicate with public accessible endpoints (“public endpoints”) over a public network such as the Internet, with other instances in the same VCN or other VCNs (e.g., the customer's other VCNs, or VCNs not belonging to the customer), with the customer's on-premise data centers or networks, and with service endpoints, and other types of endpoints.

The CSP may provide various services using the CSPI. In some instances, customers of CSPI may themselves act like service providers and provide services using CSPI resources. A service provider may expose a service endpoint, which is characterized by identification information (e.g., an IP Address, a DNS name and port). A customer's resource (e.g., a compute instance) can consume a particular service by accessing a service endpoint exposed by the service for that particular service. These service endpoints are generally endpoints that are publicly accessible by users using public IP addresses associated with the endpoints via a public communication network such as the Internet. Network endpoints that are publicly accessible are also sometimes referred to as public endpoints.

In certain embodiments, a service provider may expose a service via an endpoint (sometimes referred to as a service endpoint) for the service. Customers of the service can then use this service endpoint to access the service. In certain implementations, a service endpoint provided for a service can be accessed by multiple customers that intend to consume that service. In other implementations, a dedicated service endpoint may be provided for a customer such that only that customer can access the service using that dedicated service endpoint.

In certain embodiments, when a VCN is created, it is associated with a private overlay Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) address space, which is a range of private overlay IP addresses that are assigned to the VCN (e.g., 10.0/16). A VCN includes associated subnets, route tables, and gateways. A VCN resides within a single region but can span one or more or all of the region's availability domains. A gateway is a virtual interface that is configured for a VCN and enables communication of traffic to and from the VCN to one or more endpoints outside the VCN. One or more different types of gateways may be configured for a VCN to enable communication to and from different types of endpoints.

A VCN can be subdivided into one or more sub-networks such as one or more subnets. A subnet is thus a unit of configuration or a subdivision that can be created within a VCN. A VCN can have one or multiple subnets. Each subnet within a VCN is associated with a contiguous range of overlay IP addresses (e.g., 10.0.0.0/24 and 10.0.1.0/24) that do not overlap with other subnets in that VCN and which represent an address space subset within the address space of the VCN.

Each compute instance is associated with a virtual network interface card (VNIC), that enables the compute instance to participate in a subnet of a VCN. A VNIC is a logical representation of physical Network Interface Card (NIC). In general. a VNIC is an interface between an entity (e.g., a compute instance, a service) and a virtual network. A VNIC exists in a subnet, has one or more associated IP addresses, and associated security rules or policies. A VNIC is equivalent to a Layer-2 port on a switch. A VNIC is attached to a compute instance and to a subnet within a VCN. A VNIC associated with a compute instance enables the compute instance to be a part of a subnet of a VCN and enables the compute instance to communicate (e.g., send and receive packets) with endpoints that are on the same subnet as the compute instance, with endpoints in different subnets in the VCN, or with endpoints outside the VCN. The VNIC associated with a compute instance thus determines how the compute instance connects with endpoints inside and outside the VCN. A VNIC for a compute instance is created and associated with that compute instance when the compute instance is created and added to a subnet within a VCN. For a subnet comprising a set of compute instances, the subnet contains the VNICs corresponding to the set of compute instances, each VNIC attached to a compute instance within the set of computer instances.

Each compute instance is assigned a private overlay IP address via the VNIC associated with the compute instance. This private overlay IP address is assigned to the VNIC that is associated with the compute instance when the compute instance is created and used for routing traffic to and from the compute instance. All VNICs in a given subnet use the same route table, security lists, and DHCP options. As described above, each subnet within a VCN is associated with a contiguous range of overlay IP addresses (e.g., 10.0.0.0/24 and 10.0.1.0/24) that do not overlap with other subnets in that VCN and which represent an address space subset within the address space of the VCN. For a VNIC on a particular subnet of a VCN, the private overlay IP address that is assigned to the VNIC is an address from the contiguous range of overlay IP addresses allocated for the subnet.

In certain embodiments, a compute instance may optionally be assigned additional overlay IP addresses in addition to the private overlay IP address, such as, for example, one or more public IP addresses if in a public subnet. These multiple addresses are assigned either on the same VNIC or over multiple VNICs that are associated with the compute instance. Each instance however has a primary VNIC that is created during instance launch and is associated with the overlay private IP address assigned to the instance—this primary VNIC cannot be removed. Additional VNICs, referred to as secondary VNICs, can be added to an existing instance in the same availability domain as the primary VNIC. All the VNICs are in the same availability domain as the instance. A secondary VNIC can be in a subnet in the same VCN as the primary VNIC, or in a different subnet that is either in the same VCN or a different one.

A compute instance may optionally be assigned a public IP address if it is in a public subnet. A subnet can be designated as either a public subnet or a private subnet at the time the subnet is created. A private subnet means that the resources (e.g., compute instances) and associated VNICs in the subnet cannot have public overlay IP addresses. A public subnet means that the resources and associated VNICs in the subnet can have public IP addresses. A customer can designate a subnet to exist either in a single availability domain or across multiple availability domains in a region or realm.

As described above, a VCN may be subdivided into one or more subnets. In certain embodiments, a Virtual Router (VR) configured for the VCN (referred to as the VCN VR or just VR) enables communications between the subnets of the VCN. For a subnet within a VCN, the VR represents a logical gateway for that subnet that enables the subnet (i.e., the compute instances on that subnet) to communicate with endpoints on other subnets within the VCN, and with other endpoints outside the VCN. The VCN VR is a logical entity that is configured to route traffic between VNICs in the VCN and virtual gateways (“gateways”) associated with the VCN. Gateways are further described below with respect to FIG. 1 . A VCN VR is a Layer-3/IP Layer concept. In one embodiment, there is one VCN VR for a VCN where the VCN VR has potentially an unlimited number of ports addressed by IP addresses, with one port for each subnet of the VCN. In this manner, the VCN VR has a different IP address for each subnet in the VCN that the VCN VR is attached to. The VR is also connected to the various gateways configured for a VCN. In certain embodiments, a particular overlay IP address from the overlay IP address range for a subnet is reserved for a port of the VCN VR for that subnet. For example, consider a VCN having two subnets with associated address ranges 10.0/16 and 10.1/16, respectively. For the first subnet within the VCN with address range 10.0/16, an address from this range is reserved for a port of the VCN VR for that subnet. In some instances, the first IP address from the range may be reserved for the VCN VR. For example, for the subnet with overlay IP address range 10.0/16, IP address 10.0.0.1 may be reserved for a port of the VCN VR for that subnet. For the second subnet within the same VCN with address range 10.1/16, the VCN VR may have a port for that second subnet with IP address 10.1.0.1. The VCN VR has a different IP address for each of the subnets in the VCN.

In some other embodiments, each subnet within a VCN may have its own associated VR that is addressable by the subnet using a reserved or default IP address associated with the VR. The reserved or default IP address may, for example, be the first IP address from the range of IP addresses associated with that subnet. The VNICs in the subnet can communicate (e.g., send and receive packets) with the VR associated with the subnet using this default or reserved IP address. In such an embodiment, the VR is the ingress/egress point for that subnet. The VR associated with a subnet within the VCN can communicate with other VRs associated with other subnets within the VCN. The VRs can also communicate with gateways associated with the VCN. The VR function for a subnet is running on or executed by one or more NVDs executing VNICs functionality for VNICs in the subnet.

Route tables, security rules, and DHCP options may be configured for a VCN. Route tables are virtual route tables for the VCN and include rules to route traffic from subnets within the VCN to destinations outside the VCN by way of gateways or specially configured instances. A VCN's route tables can be customized to control how packets are forwarded/routed to and from the VCN. DHCP options refers to configuration information that is automatically provided to the instances when they boot up.

Security rules configured for a VCN represent overlay firewall rules for the VCN. The security rules can include ingress and egress rules, and specify the types of traffic (e.g., based upon protocol and port) that is allowed in and out of the instances within the VCN. The customer can choose whether a given rule is stateful or stateless. For instance, the customer can allow incoming SSH traffic from anywhere to a set of instances by setting up a stateful ingress rule with source CIDR 0.0.0.0/0, and destination TCP port 22. Security rules can be implemented using network security groups or security lists. A network security group consists of a set of security rules that apply only to the resources in that group. A security list, on the other hand, includes rules that apply to all the resources in any subnet that uses the security list. A VCN may be provided with a default security list with default security rules. DHCP options configured for a VCN provide configuration information that is automatically provided to the instances in the VCN when the instances boot up.

In certain embodiments, the configuration information for a VCN is determined and stored by a VCN Control Plane. The configuration information for a VCN may include, for example, information about: the address range associated with the VCN, subnets within the VCN and associated information, one or more VRs associated with the VCN, compute instances in the VCN and associated VNICs, NVDs executing the various virtualization network functions (e.g., VNICs, VRs, gateways) associated with the VCN, state information for the VCN, and other VCN-related information. In certain embodiments, a VCN Distribution Service publishes the configuration information stored by the VCN Control Plane, or portions thereof, to the NVDs. The distributed information may be used to update information (e.g., forwarding tables, routing tables, etc.) stored and used by the NVDs to forward packets to and from the compute instances in the VCN.

In certain embodiments, the creation of VCNs and subnets are handled by a VCN Control Plane (CP) and the launching of compute instances is handled by a Compute Control Plane. The Compute Control Plane is responsible for allocating the physical resources for the compute instance and then calls the VCN Control Plane to create and attach VNICs to the compute instance. The VCN CP also sends VCN data mappings to the VCN data plane that is configured to perform packet forwarding and routing functions. In certain embodiments, the VCN CP provides a distribution service that is responsible for providing updates to the VCN data plane. Examples of a VCN Control Plane are also depicted in FIGS. 21, 22, 23, and 24 (see references 2116, 2216, 2316, and 2416) and described below.

A customer may create one or more VCNs using resources hosted by CSPI. A compute instance deployed on a customer VCN may communicate with different endpoints. These endpoints can include endpoints that are hosted by CSPI and endpoints outside CSPI.

Various different architectures for implementing cloud-based service using CSPI are depicted in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 21, 22, 23, and 25 , and are described below. FIG. 1 is a high level diagram of a distributed environment 100 showing an overlay or customer VCN hosted by CSPI according to certain embodiments. The distributed environment depicted in FIG. 1 includes multiple components in the overlay network. Distributed environment 100 depicted in FIG. 1 is merely an example and is not intended to unduly limit the scope of claimed embodiments. Many variations, alternatives, and modifications are possible. For example, in some implementations, the distributed environment depicted in FIG. 1 may have more or fewer systems or components than those shown in FIG. 1 , may combine two or more systems, or may have a different configuration or arrangement of systems.

As shown in the example depicted in FIG. 1 , distributed environment 100 comprises CSPI 101 that provides services and resources that customers can subscribe to and use to build their virtual cloud networks (VCNs). In certain embodiments, CSPI 101 offers IaaS services to subscribing customers. The data centers within CSPI 101 may be organized into one or more regions. One example region “Region US” 102 is shown in FIG. 1 . A customer has configured a customer VCN 104 for region 102. The customer may deploy various compute instances on VCN 104, where the compute instances may include virtual machines or bare metal instances. Examples of instances include applications, database, load balancers, and the like.

In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 1 , customer VCN 104 comprises two subnets, namely, “Subnet-1” and “Subnet-2”, each subnet with its own CIDR IP address range. In FIG. 1 , the overlay IP address range for Subnet-1 is 10.0/16 and the address range for Subnet-2 is 10.1/16. A VCN Virtual Router 105 represents a logical gateway for the VCN that enables communications between subnets of the VCN 104, and with other endpoints outside the VCN. VCN VR 105 is configured to route traffic between VNICs in VCN 104 and gateways associated with VCN 104. VCN VR 105 provides a port for each subnet of VCN 104. For example, VR 105 may provide a port with IP address 10.0.0.1 for Subnet-1 and a port with IP address 10.1.0.1 for Subnet-2.

Multiple compute instances may be deployed on each subnet, where the compute instances can be virtual machine instances, and/or bare metal instances. The compute instances in a subnet may be hosted by one or more host machines within CSPI 101. A compute instance participates in a subnet via a VNIC associated with the compute instance. For example, as shown in FIG. 1 , a compute instance C1 is part of Subnet-1 via a VNIC associated with the compute instance. Likewise, compute instance C2 is part of Subnet-1 via a VNIC associated with C2. In a similar manner, multiple compute instances, which may be virtual machine instances or bare metal instances, may be part of Subnet-1. Via its associated VNIC, each compute instance is assigned a private overlay IP address and a MAC address. For example, in FIG. 1 , compute instance C1 has an overlay IP address of 10.0.0.2 and a MAC address of M1, while compute instance C2 has an private overlay IP address of 10.0.0.3 and a MAC address of M2. Each compute instance in Subnet-1, including compute instances C1 and C2, has a default route to VCN VR 105 using IP address 10.0.0.1, which is the IP address for a port of VCN VR 105 for Subnet-1.

Subnet-2 can have multiple compute instances deployed on it, including virtual machine instances and/or bare metal instances. For example, as shown in FIG. 1 , compute instances D1 and D2 are part of Subnet-2 via VNICs associated with the respective compute instances. In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 1 , compute instance D1 has an overlay IP address of 10.1.0.2 and a MAC address of MM1, while compute instance D2 has an private overlay IP address of 10.1.0.3 and a MAC address of MM2. Each compute instance in Subnet-2, including compute instances D1 and D2, has a default route to VCN VR 105 using IP address 10.1.0.1, which is the IP address for a port of VCN VR 105 for Subnet-2.

VCN A 104 may also include one or more load balancers. For example, a load balancer may be provided for a subnet and may be configured to load balance traffic across multiple compute instances on the subnet. A load balancer may also be provided to load balance traffic across subnets in the VCN.

A particular compute instance deployed on VCN 104 can communicate with various different endpoints. These endpoints may include endpoints that are hosted by CSPI 200 and endpoints outside CSPI 200. Endpoints that are hosted by CSPI 101 may include: an endpoint on the same subnet as the particular compute instance (e.g., communications between two compute instances in Subnet-1); an endpoint on a different subnet but within the same VCN (e.g., communication between a compute instance in Subnet-1 and a compute instance in Subnet-2); an endpoint in a different VCN in the same region (e.g., communications between a compute instance in Subnet-1 and an endpoint in a VCN in the same region 106 or 110, communications between a compute instance in Subnet-1 and an endpoint in service network 110 in the same region); or an endpoint in a VCN in a different region (e.g., communications between a compute instance in Subnet-1 and an endpoint in a VCN in a different region 108). A compute instance in a subnet hosted by CSPI 101 may also communicate with endpoints that are not hosted by CSPI 101 (i.e., are outside CSPI 101). These outside endpoints include endpoints in the customer's on-premise network 116, endpoints within other remote cloud hosted networks 118, public endpoints 114 accessible via a public network such as the Internet, and other endpoints.

Communications between compute instances on the same subnet are facilitated using VNICs associated with the source compute instance and the destination compute instance. For example, compute instance C1 in Subnet-1 may want to send packets to compute instance C2 in Subnet-1. For a packet originating at a source compute instance and whose destination is another compute instance in the same subnet, the packet is first processed by the VNIC associated with the source compute instance. Processing performed by the VNIC associated with the source compute instance can include determining destination information for the packet from the packet headers, identifying any policies (e.g., security lists) configured for the VNIC associated with the source compute instance, determining a next hop for the packet, performing any packet encapsulation/decapsulation functions as needed, and then forwarding/routing the packet to the next hop with the goal of facilitating communication of the packet to its intended destination. When the destination compute instance is in the same subnet as the source compute instance, the VNIC associated with the source compute instance is configured to identify the VNIC associated with the destination compute instance and forward the packet to that VNIC for processing. The VNIC associated with the destination compute instance is then executed and forwards the packet to the destination compute instance.

For a packet to be communicated from a compute instance in a subnet to an endpoint in a different subnet in the same VCN, the communication is facilitated by the VNICs associated with the source and destination compute instances and the VCN VR. For example, if compute instance C1 in Subnet-1 in FIG. 1 wants to send a packet to compute instance D1 in Subnet-2, the packet is first processed by the VNIC associated with compute instance C1. The VNIC associated with compute instance C1 is configured to route the packet to the VCN VR 105 using default route or port 10.0.0.1 of the VCN VR. VCN VR 105 is configured to route the packet to Subnet-2 using port 10.1.0.1. The packet is then received and processed by the VNIC associated with D1 and the VNIC forwards the packet to compute instance D1.

For a packet to be communicated from a compute instance in VCN 104 to an endpoint that is outside VCN 104, the communication is facilitated by the VNIC associated with the source compute instance, VCN VR 105, and gateways associated with VCN 104. One or more types of gateways may be associated with VCN 104. A gateway is an interface between a VCN and another endpoint, where the another endpoint is outside the VCN. A gateway is a Layer-3/IP layer concept and enables a VCN to communicate with endpoints outside the VCN. A gateway thus facilitates traffic flow between a VCN and other VCNs or networks. Various different types of gateways may be configured for a VCN to facilitate different types of communications with different types of endpoints. Depending upon the gateway, the communications may be over public networks (e.g., the Internet) or over private networks. Various communication protocols may be used for these communications.

For example, compute instance C1 may want to communicate with an endpoint outside VCN 104. The packet may be first processed by the VNIC associated with source compute instance C1. The VNIC processing determines that the destination for the packet is outside the Subnet-1 of C1. The VNIC associated with C1 may forward the packet to VCN VR 105 for VCN 104. VCN VR 105 then processes the packet and as part of the processing, based upon the destination for the packet, determines a particular gateway associated with VCN 104 as the next hop for the packet. VCN VR 105 may then forward the packet to the particular identified gateway. For example, if the destination is an endpoint within the customer's on-premise network, then the packet may be forwarded by VCN VR 105 to Dynamic Routing Gateway (DRG) gateway 122 configured for VCN 104. The packet may then be forwarded from the gateway to a next hop to facilitate communication of the packet to it final intended destination.

Various different types of gateways may be configured for a VCN. Examples of gateways that may be configured for a VCN are depicted in FIG. 1 and described below. Examples of gateways associated with a VCN are also depicted in FIGS. 21, 22, 23, and 24 (for example, gateways referenced by reference numbers 2134, 2136, 2138, 2234, 2236, 2238, 2334, 2336, 2338, 2434, 2436, and 2438) and described below. As shown in the embodiment depicted in FIG. 1 , a Dynamic Routing Gateway (DRG) 122 may be added to or be associated with customer VCN 104 and provides a path for private network traffic communication between customer VCN 104 and another endpoint, where the another endpoint can be the customer's on-premise network 116, a VCN 108 in a different region of CSPI 101, or other remote cloud networks 118 not hosted by CSPI 101. Customer on-premise network 116 may be a customer network or a customer data center built using the customer's resources. Access to customer on-premise network 116 is generally very restricted. For a customer that has both a customer on-premise network 116 and one or more VCNs 104 deployed or hosted in the cloud by CSPI 101, the customer may want their on-premise network 116 and their cloud-based VCN 104 to be able to communicate with each other. This enables a customer to build an extended hybrid environment encompassing the customer's VCN 104 hosted by CSPI 101 and their on-premises network 116. DRG 122 enables this communication. To enable such communications, a communication channel 124 is set up where one endpoint of the channel is in customer on-premise network 116 and the other endpoint is in CSPI 101 and connected to customer VCN 104. Communication channel 124 can be over public communication networks such as the Internet or private communication networks. Various different communication protocols may be used such as IPsec VPN technology over a public communication network such as the Internet, Oracle's FastConnect technology that uses a private network instead of a public network, and others. The device or equipment in customer on-premise network 116 that forms one end point for communication channel 124 is referred to as the customer premise equipment (CPE), such as CPE 126 depicted in FIG. 1 . On the CSPI 101 side, the endpoint may be a host machine executing DRG 122.

In certain embodiments, a Remote Peering Connection (RPC) can be added to a DRG, which allows a customer to peer one VCN with another VCN in a different region. Using such an RPC, customer VCN 104 can use DRG 122 to connect with a VCN 108 in another region. DRG 122 may also be used to communicate with other remote cloud networks 118, not hosted by CSPI 101 such as a Microsoft Azure cloud, Amazon AWS cloud, and others.

As shown in FIG. 1 , an Internet Gateway (IGW) 120 may be configured for customer VCN 104 the enables a compute instance on VCN 104 to communicate with public endpoints 114 accessible over a public network such as the Internet. IGW 1120 is a gateway that connects a VCN to a public network such as the Internet. IGW 120 enables a public subnet (where the resources in the public subnet have public overlay IP addresses) within a VCN, such as VCN 104, direct access to public endpoints 112 on a public network 114 such as the Internet. Using IGW 120, connections can be initiated from a subnet within VCN 104 or from the Internet.

A Network Address Translation (NAT) gateway 128 can be configured for customer's VCN 104 and enables cloud resources in the customer's VCN, which do not have dedicated public overlay IP addresses, access to the Internet and it does so without exposing those resources to direct incoming Internet connections (e.g., L4-L7 connections). This enables a private subnet within a VCN, such as private Subnet-1 in VCN 104, with private access to public endpoints on the Internet. In NAT gateways, connections can be initiated only from the private subnet to the public Internet and not from the Internet to the private subnet.

In certain embodiments, a Service Gateway (SGW) 126 can be configured for customer VCN 104 and provides a path for private network traffic between VCN 104 and supported services endpoints in a service network 110. In certain embodiments, service network 110 may be provided by the CSP and may provide various services. An example of such a service network is Oracle's Services Network, which provides various services that can be used by customers. For example, a compute instance (e.g., a database system) in a private subnet of customer VCN 104 can back up data to a service endpoint (e.g., Object Storage) without needing public IP addresses or access to the Internet. In certain embodiments, a VCN can have only one SGW, and connections can only be initiated from a subnet within the VCN and not from service network 110. If a VCN is peered with another, resources in the other VCN typically cannot access the SGW. Resources in on-premises networks that are connected to a VCN with FastConnect or VPN Connect can also use the service gateway configured for that VCN.

In certain implementations, SGW 126 uses the concept of a service Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) label, which is a string that represents all the regional public IP address ranges for the service or group of services of interest. The customer uses the service CIDR label when they configure the SGW and related route rules to control traffic to the service. The customer can optionally utilize it when configuring security rules without needing to adjust them if the service's public IP addresses change in the future.

A Local Peering Gateway (LPG) 132 is a gateway that can be added to customer VCN 104 and enables VCN 104 to peer with another VCN in the same region. Peering means that the VCNs communicate using private IP addresses, without the traffic traversing a public network such as the Internet or without routing the traffic through the customer's on-premises network 116. In preferred embodiments, a VCN has a separate LPG for each peering it establishes. Local Peering or VCN Peering is a common practice used to establish network connectivity between different applications or infrastructure management functions.

Service providers, such as providers of services in service network 110, may provide access to services using different access models. According to a public access model, services may be exposed as public endpoints that are publicly accessible by compute instance in a customer VCN via a public network such as the Internet and or may be privately accessible via SGW 126. According to a specific private access model, services are made accessible as private IP endpoints in a private subnet in the customer's VCN. This is referred to as a Private Endpoint (PE) access and enables a service provider to expose their service as an instance in the customer's private network. A Private Endpoint resource represents a service within the customer's VCN. Each PE manifests as a VNIC (referred to as a PE-VNIC, with one or more private IPs) in a subnet chosen by the customer in the customer's VCN. A PE thus provides a way to present a service within a private customer VCN subnet using a VNIC. Since the endpoint is exposed as a VNIC, all the features associates with a VNIC such as routing rules, security lists, etc., are now available for the PE VNIC.

A service provider can register their service to enable access through a PE. The provider can associate policies with the service that restricts the service's visibility to the customer tenancies. A provider can register multiple services under a single virtual IP address (VIP), especially for multi-tenant services. There may be multiple such private endpoints (in multiple VCNs) that represent the same service.

Compute instances in the private subnet can then use the PE VNIC's private IP address or the service DNS name to access the service. Compute instances in the customer VCN can access the service by sending traffic to the private IP address of the PE in the customer VCN. A Private Access Gateway (PAGW) 130 is a gateway resource that can be attached to a service provider VCN (e.g., a VCN in service network 110) that acts as an ingress/egress point for all traffic from/to customer subnet private endpoints. PAGW 130 enables a provider to scale the number of PE connections without utilizing its internal IP address resources. A provider needs only configure one PAGW for any number of services registered in a single VCN. Providers can represent a service as a private endpoint in multiple VCNs of one or more customers. From the customer's perspective, the PE VNIC, which, instead of being attached to a customer's instance, appears attached to the service with which the customer wishes to interact. The traffic destined to the private endpoint is routed via PAGW 130 to the service. These are referred to as customer-to-service private connections (C2S connections).

The PE concept can also be used to extend the private access for the service to customer's on-premises networks and data centers, by allowing the traffic to flow through FastConnect/IPsec links and the private endpoint in the customer VCN. Private access for the service can also be extended to the customer's peered VCNs, by allowing the traffic to flow between LPG 132 and the PE in the customer's VCN.

A customer can control routing in a VCN at the subnet level, so the customer can specify which subnets in the customer's VCN, such as VCN 104, use each gateway. A VCN's route tables are used to decide if traffic is allowed out of a VCN through a particular gateway. For example, in a particular instance, a route table for a public subnet within customer VCN 104 may send non-local traffic through IGW 120. The route table for a private subnet within the same customer VCN 104 may send traffic destined for CSP services through SGW 126. All remaining traffic may be sent via the NAT gateway 128. Route tables only control traffic going out of a VCN.

Security lists associated with a VCN are used to control traffic that comes into a VCN via a gateway via inbound connections. All resources in a subnet use the same route table and security lists. Security lists may be used to control specific types of traffic allowed in and out of instances in a subnet of a VCN. Security list rules may comprise ingress (inbound) and egress (outbound) rules. For example, an ingress rule may specify an allowed source address range, while an egress rule may specify an allowed destination address range. Security rules may specify a particular protocol (e.g., TCP, ICMP), a particular port (e.g., 22 for SSH, 3389 for Windows RDP), etc. In certain implementations, an instance's operating system may enforce its own firewall rules that are aligned with the security list rules. Rules may be stateful (e.g., a connection is tracked and the response is automatically allowed without an explicit security list rule for the response traffic) or stateless.

Access from a customer VCN (i.e., by a resource or compute instance deployed on VCN 104) can be categorized as public access, private access, or dedicated access. Public access refers to an access model where a public IP address or a NAT is used to access a public endpoint. Private access enables customer workloads in VCN 104 with private IP addresses (e.g., resources in a private subnet) to access services without traversing a public network such as the Internet. In certain embodiments, CSPI 101 enables customer VCN workloads with private IP addresses to access the (public service endpoints of) services using a service gateway. A service gateway thus offers a private access model by establishing a virtual link between the customer's VCN and the service's public endpoint residing outside the customer's private network.

Additionally, CSPI may offer dedicated public access using technologies such as FastConnect public peering where customer on-premises instances can access one or more services in a customer VCN using a FastConnect connection and without traversing a public network such as the Internet. CSPI also may also offer dedicated private access using FastConnect private peering where customer on-premises instances with private IP addresses can access the customer's VCN workloads using a FastConnect connection. FastConnect is a network connectivity alternative to using the public Internet to connect a customer's on-premise network to CSPI and its services. FastConnect provides an easy, elastic, and economical way to create a dedicated and private connection with higher bandwidth options and a more reliable and consistent networking experience when compared to Internet-based connections.

FIG. 1 and the accompanying description above describes various virtualized components in an example virtual network. As described above, the virtual network is built on the underlying physical or substrate network. FIG. 2 depicts a simplified architectural diagram of the physical components in the physical network within CSPI 200 that provide the underlay for the virtual network according to certain embodiments. As shown, CSPI 200 provides a distributed environment comprising components and resources (e.g., compute, memory, and networking resources) provided by a cloud service provider (CSP). These components and resources are used to provide cloud services (e.g., IaaS services) to subscribing customers, i.e., customers that have subscribed to one or more services provided by the CSP. Based upon the services subscribed to by a customer, a subset of resources (e.g., compute, memory, and networking resources) of CSPI 200 are provisioned for the customer. Customers can then build their own cloud-based (i.e., CSPI-hosted) customizable and private virtual networks using physical compute, memory, and networking resources provided by CSPI 200. As previously indicated, these customer networks are referred to as virtual cloud networks (VCNs). A customer can deploy one or more customer resources, such as compute instances, on these customer VCNs. Compute instances can be in the form of virtual machines, bare metal instances, and the like. CSPI 200 provides infrastructure and a set of complementary cloud services that enable customers to build and run a wide range of applications and services in a highly available hosted environment.

In the example embodiment depicted in FIG. 2 , the physical components of CSPI 200 include one or more physical host machines or physical servers (e.g., 202, 206, 208), network virtualization devices (NVDs) (e.g., 210, 212), top-of-rack (TOR) switches (e.g., 214, 216), and a physical network (e.g., 218), and switches in physical network 218. The physical host machines or servers may host and execute various compute instances that participate in one or more subnets of a VCN. The compute instances may include virtual machine instances, and bare metal instances. For example, the various compute instances depicted in FIG. 1 may be hosted by the physical host machines depicted in FIG. 2 . The virtual machine compute instances in a VCN may be executed by one host machine or by multiple different host machines. The physical host machines may also host virtual host machines, container-based hosts or functions, and the like. The VNICs and VCN VR depicted in FIG. 1 may be executed by the NVDs depicted in FIG. 2 . The gateways depicted in FIG. 1 may be executed by the host machines and/or by the NVDs depicted in FIG. 2 .

The host machines or servers may execute a hypervisor (also referred to as a virtual machine monitor or VMM) that creates and enables a virtualized environment on the host machines. The virtualization or virtualized environment facilitates cloud-based computing. One or more compute instances may be created, executed, and managed on a host machine by a hypervisor on that host machine. The hypervisor on a host machine enables the physical computing resources of the host machine (e.g., compute, memory, and networking resources) to be shared between the various compute instances executed by the host machine.

For example, as depicted in FIG. 2 , host machines 202 and 208 execute hypervisors 260 and 266, respectively. These hypervisors may be implemented using software, firmware, or hardware, or combinations thereof. Typically, a hypervisor is a process or a software layer that sits on top of the host machine's operating system (OS), which in turn executes on the hardware processors of the host machine. The hypervisor provides a virtualized environment by enabling the physical computing resources (e.g., processing resources such as processors/cores, memory resources, networking resources) of the host machine to be shared among the various virtual machine compute instances executed by the host machine. For example, in FIG. 2 , hypervisor 260 may sit on top of the OS of host machine 202 and enables the computing resources (e.g., processing, memory, and networking resources) of host machine 202 to be shared between compute instances (e.g., virtual machines) executed by host machine 202. A virtual machine can have its own operating system (referred to as a guest operating system), which may be the same as or different from the OS of the host machine. The operating system of a virtual machine executed by a host machine may be the same as or different from the operating system of another virtual machine executed by the same host machine. A hypervisor thus enables multiple operating systems to be executed alongside each other while sharing the same computing resources of the host machine. The host machines depicted in FIG. 2 may have the same or different types of hypervisors.

A compute instance can be a virtual machine instance or a bare metal instance. In FIG. 2 , compute instances 268 on host machine 202 and 274 on host machine 208 are examples of virtual machine instances. Host machine 206 is an example of a bare metal instance that is provided to a customer.

In certain instances, an entire host machine may be provisioned to a single customer, and all of the one or more compute instances (either virtual machines or bare metal instance) hosted by that host machine belong to that same customer. In other instances, a host machine may be shared between multiple customers (i.e., multiple tenants). In such a multi-tenancy scenario, a host machine may host virtual machine compute instances belonging to different customers. These compute instances may be members of different VCNs of different customers. In certain embodiments, a bare metal compute instance is hosted by a bare metal server without a hypervisor. When a bare metal compute instance is provisioned, a single customer or tenant maintains control of the physical CPU, memory, and network interfaces of the host machine hosting the bare metal instance and the host machine is not shared with other customers or tenants.

As previously described, each compute instance that is part of a VCN is associated with a VNIC that enables the compute instance to become a member of a subnet of the VCN. The VNIC associated with a compute instance facilitates the communication of packets or frames to and from the compute instance. A VNIC is associated with a compute instance when the compute instance is created. In certain embodiments, for a compute instance executed by a host machine, the VNIC associated with that compute instance is executed by an NVD connected to the host machine. For example, in FIG. 2 , host machine 202 executes a virtual machine compute instance 268 that is associated with VNIC 276, and VNIC 276 is executed by NVD 210 connected to host machine 202. As another example, bare metal instance 272 hosted by host machine 206 is associated with VNIC 280 that is executed by NVD 212 connected to host machine 206. As yet another example, VNIC 284 is associated with compute instance 274 executed by host machine 208, and VNIC 284 is executed by NVD 212 connected to host machine 208.

For compute instances hosted by a host machine, an NVD connected to that host machine also executes VCN VRs corresponding to VCNs of which the compute instances are members. For example, in the embodiment depicted in FIG. 2 , NVD 210 executes VCN VR 277 corresponding to the VCN of which compute instance 268 is a member. NVD 212 may also execute one or more VCN VRs 283 corresponding to VCNs corresponding to the compute instances hosted by host machines 206 and 208.

A host machine may include one or more network interface cards (NIC) that enable the host machine to be connected to other devices. A NIC on a host machine may provide one or more ports (or interfaces) that enable the host machine to be communicatively connected to another device. For example, a host machine may be connected to an NVD using one or more ports (or interfaces) provided on the host machine and on the NVD. A host machine may also be connected to other devices such as another host machine.

For example, in FIG. 2 , host machine 202 is connected to NVD 210 using link 220 that extends between a port 234 provided by a NIC 232 of host machine 202 and between a port 236 of NVD 210. Host machine 206 is connected to NVD 212 using link 224 that extends between a port 246 provided by a NIC 244 of host machine 206 and between a port 248 of NVD 212. Host machine 208 is connected to NVD 212 using link 226 that extends between a port 252 provided by a NIC 250 of host machine 208 and between a port 254 of NVD 212.

The NVDs are in turn connected via communication links to top-of-the-rack (TOR) switches, which are connected to physical network 218 (also referred to as the switch fabric). In certain embodiments, the links between a host machine and an NVD, and between an NVD and a TOR switch are Ethernet links. For example, in FIG. 2 , NVDs 210 and 212 are connected to TOR switches 214 and 216, respectively, using links 228 and 230. In certain embodiments, the links 220, 224, 226, 228, and 230 are Ethernet links. The collection of host machines and NVDs that are connected to a TOR is sometimes referred to as a rack.

Physical network 218 provides a communication fabric that enables TOR switches to communicate with each other. Physical network 218 can be a multi-tiered network. In certain implementations, physical network 218 is a multi-tiered Clos network of switches, with TOR switches 214 and 216 representing the leaf level nodes of the multi-tiered and multi-node physical switching network 218. Different Clos network configurations are possible including but not limited to a 2-tier network, a 3-tier network, a 4-tier network, a 5-tier network, and in general a “n”-tiered network. An example of a Clos network is depicted in FIG. 5 and described below.

Various different connection configurations are possible between host machines and NVDs such as one-to-one configuration, many-to-one configuration, one-to-many configuration, and others. In a one-to-one configuration implementation, each host machine is connected to its own separate NVD. For example, in FIG. 2 , host machine 202 is connected to NVD 210 via NIC 232 of host machine 202. In a many-to-one configuration, multiple host machines are connected to one NVD. For example, in FIG. 2 , host machines 206 and 208 are connected to the same NVD 212 via NICs 244 and 250, respectively.

In a one-to-many configuration, one host machine is connected to multiple NVDs. FIG. 3 shows an example within CSPI 300 where a host machine is connected to multiple NVDs. As shown in FIG. 3 , host machine 302 comprises a network interface card (NIC) 304 that includes multiple ports 306 and 308. Host machine 300 is connected to a first NVD 310 via port 306 and link 320, and connected to a second NVD 312 via port 308 and link 322. Ports 306 and 308 may be Ethernet ports and the links 320 and 322 between host machine 302 and NVDs 310 and 312 may be Ethernet links. NVD 310 is in turn connected to a first TOR switch 314 and NVD 312 is connected to a second TOR switch 316. The links between NVDs 310 and 312, and TOR switches 314 and 316 may be Ethernet links. TOR switches 314 and 316 represent the Tier-0 switching devices in multi-tiered physical network 318.

The arrangement depicted in FIG. 3 provides two separate physical network paths to and from physical switch network 318 to host machine 302: a first path traversing TOR switch 314 to NVD 310 to host machine 302, and a second path traversing TOR switch 316 to NVD 312 to host machine 302. The separate paths provide for enhanced availability (referred to as high availability) of host machine 302. If there are problems in one of the paths (e.g., a link in one of the paths goes down) or devices (e.g., a particular NVD is not functioning), then the other path may be used for communications to/from host machine 302.

In the configuration depicted in FIG. 3 , the host machine is connected to two different NVDs using two different ports provided by a NIC of the host machine. In other embodiments, a host machine may include multiple NICs that enable connectivity of the host machine to multiple NVDs.

Referring back to FIG. 2 , an NVD is a physical device or component that performs one or more network and/or storage virtualization functions. An NVD may be any device with one or more processing units (e.g., CPUs, Network Processing Units (NPUs), FPGAs, packet processing pipelines, etc.), memory including cache, and ports. The various virtualization functions may be performed by software/firmware executed by the one or more processing units of the NVD.

An NVD may be implemented in various different forms. For example, in certain embodiments, an NVD is implemented as an interface card referred to as a smartNIC or an intelligent NIC with an embedded processor onboard. A smartNIC is a separate device from the NICs on the host machines. In FIG. 2 , the NVDs 210 and 212 may be implemented as smartNICs that are connected to host machines 202, and host machines 206 and 208, respectively.

A smartNIC is however just one example of an NVD implementation. Various other implementations are possible. For example, in some other implementations, an NVD or one or more functions performed by the NVD may be incorporated into or performed by one or more host machines, one or more TOR switches, and other components of CSPI 200. For example, an NVD may be embodied in a host machine where the functions performed by an NVD are performed by the host machine. As another example, an NVD may be part of a TOR switch or a TOR switch may be configured to perform functions performed by an NVD that enables the TOR switch to perform various complex packet transformations that are used for a public cloud. A TOR that performs the functions of an NVD is sometimes referred to as a smart TOR. In yet other implementations, where virtual machines (VMs) instances, but not bare metal (BM) instances, are offered to customers, functions performed by an NVD may be implemented inside a hypervisor of the host machine. In some other implementations, some of the functions of the NVD may be offloaded to a centralized service running on a fleet of host machines.

In certain embodiments, such as when implemented as a smartNIC as shown in FIG. 2 , an NVD may comprise multiple physical ports that enable it to be connected to one or more host machines and to one or more TOR switches. A port on an NVD can be classified as a host-facing port (also referred to as a “south port”) or a network-facing or TOR-facing port (also referred to as a “north port”). A host-facing port of an NVD is a port that is used to connect the NVD to a host machine. Examples of host-facing ports in FIG. 2 include port 236 on NVD 210, and ports 248 and 254 on NVD 212. A network-facing port of an NVD is a port that is used to connect the NVD to a TOR switch. Examples of network-facing ports in FIG. 2 include port 256 on NVD 210, and port 258 on NVD 212. As shown in FIG. 2 , NVD 210 is connected to TOR switch 214 using link 228 that extends from port 256 of NVD 210 to the TOR switch 214. Likewise, NVD 212 is connected to TOR switch 216 using link 230 that extends from port 258 of NVD 212 to the TOR switch 216.

An NVD receives packets and frames from a host machine (e.g., packets and frames generated by a compute instance hosted by the host machine) via a host-facing port and, after performing the necessary packet processing, may forward the packets and frames to a TOR switch via a network-facing port of the NVD. An NVD may receive packets and frames from a TOR switch via a network-facing port of the NVD and, after performing the necessary packet processing, may forward the packets and frames to a host machine via a host-facing port of the NVD.

In certain embodiments, there may be multiple ports and associated links between an NVD and a TOR switch. These ports and links may be aggregated to form a link aggregator group of multiple ports or links (referred to as a LAG). Link aggregation allows multiple physical links between two end-points (e.g., between an NVD and a TOR switch) to be treated as a single logical link. All the physical links in a given LAG may operate in full-duplex mode at the same speed. LAGs help increase the bandwidth and reliability of the connection between two endpoints. If one of the physical links in the LAG goes down, traffic is dynamically and transparently reassigned to one of the other physical links in the LAG. The aggregated physical links deliver higher bandwidth than each individual link. The multiple ports associated with a LAG are treated as a single logical port. Traffic can be load-balanced across the multiple physical links of a LAG. One or more LAGs may be configured between two endpoints. The two endpoints may be between an NVD and a TOR switch, between a host machine and an NVD, and the like.

An NVD implements or performs network virtualization functions. These functions are performed by software/firmware executed by the NVD. Examples of network virtualization functions include without limitation: packet encapsulation and de-capsulation functions; functions for creating a VCN network; functions for implementing network policies such as VCN security list (firewall) functionality; functions that facilitate the routing and forwarding of packets to and from compute instances in a VCN; and the like. In certain embodiments, upon receiving a packet, an NVD is configured to execute a packet processing pipeline for processing the packet and determining how the packet is to be forwarded or routed. As part of this packet processing pipeline, the NVD may execute one or more virtual functions associated with the overlay network such as executing VNICs associated with cis in the VCN, executing a Virtual Router (VR) associated with the VCN, the encapsulation and decapsulation of packets to facilitate forwarding or routing in the virtual network, execution of certain gateways (e.g., the Local Peering Gateway), the implementation of Security Lists, Network Security Groups, network address translation (NAT) functionality (e.g., the translation of Public IP to Private IP on a host by host basis), throttling functions, and other functions.

In certain embodiments, the packet processing data path in an NVD may comprise multiple packet pipelines, each composed of a series of packet transformation stages. In certain implementations, upon receiving a packet, the packet is parsed and classified to a single pipeline. The packet is then processed in a linear fashion, one stage after another, until the packet is either dropped or sent out over an interface of the NVD. These stages provide basic functional packet processing building blocks (e.g., validating headers, enforcing throttle, inserting new Layer-2 headers, enforcing L4 firewall, VCN encapsulation/decapsulation, etc.) so that new pipelines can be constructed by composing existing stages, and new functionality can be added by creating new stages and inserting them into existing pipelines.

An NVD may perform both control plane and data plane functions corresponding to a control plane and a data plane of a VCN. Examples of a VCN Control Plane are also depicted in FIGS. 21, 22, 23, and 24 (see references 2116, 2216, 2316, and 2416) and described below. Examples of a VCN Data Plane are depicted in FIGS. 21, 22, 23, and 24 (see references 2118, 2218, 2318, and 2418) and described below. The control plane functions include functions used for configuring a network (e.g., setting up routes and route tables, configuring VNICs, etc.) that controls how data is to be forwarded. In certain embodiments, a VCN Control Plane is provided that computes all the overlay-to-substrate mappings centrally and publishes them to the NVDs and to the virtual network edge devices such as various gateways such as the DRG, the SGW, the IGW, etc. Firewall rules may also be published using the same mechanism. In certain embodiments, an NVD only gets the mappings that are relevant for that NVD. The data plane functions include functions for the actual routing/forwarding of a packet based upon configuration set up using control plane. A VCN data plane is implemented by encapsulating the customer's network packets before they traverse the substrate network. The encapsulation/decapsulation functionality is implemented on the NVDs. In certain embodiments, an NVD is configured to intercept all network packets in and out of host machines and perform network virtualization functions.

As indicated above, an NVD executes various virtualization functions including VNICs and VCN VRs. An NVD may execute VNICs associated with the compute instances hosted by one or more host machines connected to the VNIC. For example, as depicted in FIG. 2 , NVD 210 executes the functionality for VNIC 276 that is associated with compute instance 268 hosted by host machine 202 connected to NVD 210. As another example, NVD 212 executes VNIC 280 that is associated with bare metal compute instance 272 hosted by host machine 206, and executes VNIC 284 that is associated with compute instance 274 hosted by host machine 208. A host machine may host compute instances belonging to different VCNs, which belong to different customers, and the NVD connected to the host machine may execute the VNICs (i.e., execute VNICs-relate functionality) corresponding to the compute instances.

An NVD also executes VCN Virtual Routers corresponding to the VCNs of the compute instances. For example, in the embodiment depicted in FIG. 2 , NVD 210 executes VCN VR 277 corresponding to the VCN to which compute instance 268 belongs. NVD 212 executes one or more VCN VRs 283 corresponding to one or more VCNs to which compute instances hosted by host machines 206 and 208 belong. In certain embodiments, the VCN VR corresponding to that VCN is executed by all the NVDs connected to host machines that host at least one compute instance belonging to that VCN. If a host machine hosts compute instances belonging to different VCNs, an NVD connected to that host machine may execute VCN VRs corresponding to those different VCNs.

In addition to VNICs and VCN VRs, an NVD may execute various software (e.g., daemons) and include one or more hardware components that facilitate the various network virtualization functions performed by the NVD. For purposes of simplicity, these various components are grouped together as “packet processing components” shown in FIG. 2 . For example, NVD 210 comprises packet processing components 286 and NVD 212 comprises packet processing components 288. For example, the packet processing components for an NVD may include a packet processor that is configured to interact with the NVD's ports and hardware interfaces to monitor all packets received by and communicated using the NVD and store network information. The network information may, for example, include network flow information identifying different network flows handled by the NVD and per flow information (e.g., per flow statistics). In certain embodiments, network flows information may be stored on a per VNIC basis. The packet processor may perform packet-by-packet manipulations as well as implement stateful NAT and L4 firewall (FW). As another example, the packet processing components may include a replication agent that is configured to replicate information stored by the NVD to one or more different replication target stores. As yet another example, the packet processing components may include a logging agent that is configured to perform logging functions for the NVD. The packet processing components may also include software for monitoring the performance and health of the NVD and, also possibly of monitoring the state and health of other components connected to the NVD.

FIG. 1 shows the components of an example virtual or overlay network including a VCN, subnets within the VCN, compute instances deployed on subnets, VNICs associated with the compute instances, a VR for a VCN, and a set of gateways configured for the VCN. The overlay components depicted in FIG. 1 may be executed or hosted by one or more of the physical components depicted in FIG. 2 . For example, the compute instances in a VCN may be executed or hosted by one or more host machines depicted in FIG. 2 . For a compute instance hosted by a host machine, the VNIC associated with that compute instance is typically executed by an NVD connected to that host machine (i.e., the VNIC functionality is provided by the NVD connected to that host machine). The VCN VR function for a VCN is executed by all the NVDs that are connected to host machines hosting or executing the compute instances that are part of that VCN. The gateways associated with a VCN may be executed by one or more different types of NVDs. For example, certain gateways may be executed by smartNICs, while others may be executed by one or more host machines or other implementations of NVDs.

As described above, a compute instance in a customer VCN may communicate with various different endpoints, where the endpoints can be within the same subnet as the source compute instance, in a different subnet but within the same VCN as the source compute instance, or with an endpoint that is outside the VCN of the source compute instance. These communications are facilitated using VNICs associated with the compute instances, the VCN VRs, and the gateways associated with the VCNs.

For communications between two compute instances on the same subnet in a VCN, the communication is facilitated using VNICs associated with the source and destination compute instances. The source and destination compute instances may be hosted by the same host machine or by different host machines. A packet originating from a source compute instance may be forwarded from a host machine hosting the source compute instance to an NVD connected to that host machine. On the NVD, the packet is processed using a packet processing pipeline, which can include execution of the VNIC associated with the source compute instance. Since the destination endpoint for the packet is within the same subnet, execution of the VNIC associated with the source compute instance results in the packet being forwarded to an NVD executing the VNIC associated with the destination compute instance, which then processes and forwards the packet to the destination compute instance. The VNICs associated with the source and destination compute instances may be executed on the same NVD (e.g., when both the source and destination compute instances are hosted by the same host machine) or on different NVDs (e.g., when the source and destination compute instances are hosted by different host machines connected to different NVDs). The VNICs may use routing/forwarding tables stored by the NVD to determine the next hop for the packet.

For a packet to be communicated from a compute instance in a subnet to an endpoint in a different subnet in the same VCN, the packet originating from the source compute instance is communicated from the host machine hosting the source compute instance to the NVD connected to that host machine. On the NVD, the packet is processed using a packet processing pipeline, which can include execution of one or more VNICs, and the VR associated with the VCN. For example, as part of the packet processing pipeline, the NVD executes or invokes functionality corresponding to the VNIC (also referred to as executes the VNIC) associated with source compute instance. The functionality performed by the VNIC may include looking at the VLAN tag on the packet. Since the packet's destination is outside the subnet, the VCN VR functionality is next invoked and executed by the NVD. The VCN VR then routes the packet to the NVD executing the VNIC associated with the destination compute instance. The VNIC associated with the destination compute instance then processes the packet and forwards the packet to the destination compute instance. The VNICs associated with the source and destination compute instances may be executed on the same NVD (e.g., when both the source and destination compute instances are hosted by the same host machine) or on different NVDs (e.g., when the source and destination compute instances are hosted by different host machines connected to different NVDs).

If the destination for the packet is outside the VCN of the source compute instance, then the packet originating from the source compute instance is communicated from the host machine hosting the source compute instance to the NVD connected to that host machine. The NVD executes the VNIC associated with the source compute instance. Since the destination end point of the packet is outside the VCN, the packet is then processed by the VCN VR for that VCN. The NVD invokes the VCN VR functionality, which may result in the packet being forwarded to an NVD executing the appropriate gateway associated with the VCN. For example, if the destination is an endpoint within the customer's on-premise network, then the packet may be forwarded by the VCN VR to the NVD executing the DRG gateway configured for the VCN. The VCN VR may be executed on the same NVD as the NVD executing the VNIC associated with the source compute instance or by a different NVD. The gateway may be executed by an NVD, which may be a smartNIC, a host machine, or other NVD implementation. The packet is then processed by the gateway and forwarded to a next hop that facilitates communication of the packet to its intended destination endpoint. For example, in the embodiment depicted in FIG. 2 , a packet originating from compute instance 268 may be communicated from host machine 202 to NVD 210 over link 220 (using NIC 232). On NVD 210, VNIC 276 is invoked since it is the VNIC associated with source compute instance 268. VNIC 276 is configured to examine the encapsulated information in the packet, and determine a next hop for forwarding the packet with the goal of facilitating communication of the packet to its intended destination endpoint, and then forward the packet to the determined next hop.

A compute instance deployed on a VCN can communicate with various different endpoints. These endpoints may include endpoints that are hosted by CSPI 200 and endpoints outside CSPI 200. Endpoints hosted by CSPI 200 may include instances in the same VCN or other VCNs, which may be the customer's VCNs, or VCNs not belonging to the customer. Communications between endpoints hosted by CSPI 200 may be performed over physical network 218. A compute instance may also communicate with endpoints that are not hosted by CSPI 200, or are outside CSPI 200. Examples of these endpoints include endpoints within a customer's on-premise network or data center, or public endpoints accessible over a public network such as the Internet. Communications with endpoints outside CSPI 200 may be performed over public networks (e.g., the Internet) (not shown in FIG. 2 ) or private networks (not shown in FIG. 2 ) using various communication protocols.

The architecture of CSPI 200 depicted in FIG. 2 is merely an example and is not intended to be limiting. Variations, alternatives, and modifications are possible in alternative embodiments. For example, in some implementations, CSPI 200 may have more or fewer systems or components than those shown in FIG. 2 , may combine two or more systems, or may have a different configuration or arrangement of systems. The systems, subsystems, and other components depicted in FIG. 2 may be implemented in software (e.g., code, instructions, program) executed by one or more processing units (e.g., processors, cores) of the respective systems, using hardware, or combinations thereof. The software may be stored on a non-transitory storage medium (e.g., on a memory device).

FIG. 4 depicts connectivity between a host machine and an NVD for providing I/O virtualization for supporting multitenancy according to certain embodiments. As depicted in FIG. 4 , host machine 402 executes a hypervisor 404 that provides a virtualized environment. Host machine 402 executes two virtual machine instances, VM1 406 belonging to customer/tenant #1 and VM2 408 belonging to customer/tenant #2. Host machine 402 comprises a physical NIC 410 that is connected to an NVD 412 via link 414. Each of the compute instances is attached to a VNIC that is executed by NVD 412. In the embodiment in FIG. 4 , VM1 406 is attached to VNIC-VM1 420 and VM2 408 is attached to VNIC-VM2 422.

As shown in FIG. 4 , NIC 410 comprises two logical NICs, logical NIC A 416 and logical NIC B 418. Each virtual machine is attached to and configured to work with its own logical NIC. For example, VM1 406 is attached to logical NIC A 416 and VM2 408 is attached to logical NIC B 418. Even though host machine 402 comprises only one physical NIC 410 that is shared by the multiple tenants, due to the logical NICs, each tenant's virtual machine believes they have their own host machine and NIC.

In certain embodiments, each logical NIC is assigned its own VLAN ID. Thus, a specific VLAN ID is assigned to logical NIC A 416 for Tenant #1 and a separate VLAN ID is assigned to logical NIC B 418 for Tenant #2. When a packet is communicated from VM1 406, a tag assigned to Tenant #1 is attached to the packet by the hypervisor and the packet is then communicated from host machine 402 to NVD 412 over link 414. In a similar manner, when a packet is communicated from VM2 408, a tag assigned to Tenant #2 is attached to the packet by the hypervisor and the packet is then communicated from host machine 402 to NVD 412 over link 414. Accordingly, a packet 424 communicated from host machine 402 to NVD 412 has an associated tag 426 that identifies a specific tenant and associated VM. On the NVD, for a packet 424 received from host machine 402, the tag 426 associated with the packet is used to determine whether the packet is to be processed by VNIC-VM1 420 or by VNIC-VM2 422. The packet is then processed by the corresponding VNIC. The configuration depicted in FIG. 4 enables each tenant's compute instance to believe that they own their own host machine and NIC. The setup depicted in FIG. 4 provides for I/O virtualization for supporting multi-tenancy.

FIG. 5 depicts a simplified block diagram of a physical network 500 according to certain embodiments. The embodiment depicted in FIG. 5 is structured as a Clos network. A Clos network is a particular type of network topology designed to provide connection redundancy while maintaining high bisection bandwidth and maximum resource utilization. A Clos network is a type of non-blocking, multistage or multi-tiered switching network, where the number of stages or tiers can be two, three, four, five, etc. The embodiment depicted in FIG. 5 is a 3-tiered network comprising tiers 1, 2, and 3. The TOR switches 504 represent Tier-0 switches in the Clos network. One or more NVDs are connected to the TOR switches. Tier-0 switches are also referred to as edge devices of the physical network. The Tier-0 switches are connected to Tier-1 switches, which are also referred to as leaf switches. In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 5 , a set of “n” Tier-0 TOR switches are connected to a set of “n” Tier-1 switches and together form a pod. Each Tier-0 switch in a pod is interconnected to all the Tier-1 switches in the pod, but there is no connectivity of switches between pods. In certain implementations, two pods are referred to as a block. Each block is served by or connected to a set of “n” Tier-2 switches (sometimes referred to as spine switches). There can be several blocks in the physical network topology. The Tier-2 switches are in turn connected to “n” Tier-3 switches (sometimes referred to as super-spine switches). Communication of packets over physical network 500 is typically performed using one or more Layer-3 communication protocols. Typically, all the layers of the physical network, except for the TORs layer are n-ways redundant thus allowing for high availability. Policies may be specified for pods and blocks to control the visibility of switches to each other in the physical network so as to enable scaling of the physical network.

A feature of a Clos network is that the maximum hop count to reach from one Tier-0 switch to another Tier-0 switch (or from an NVD connected to a Tier-0-switch to another NVD connected to a Tier-0 switch) is fixed. For example, in a 3-Tiered Clos network at most seven hops are needed for a packet to reach from one NVD to another NVD, where the source and target NVDs are connected to the leaf tier of the Clos network. Likewise, in a 4-tiered Clos network, at most nine hops are needed for a packet to reach from one NVD to another NVD, where the source and target NVDs are connected to the leaf tier of the Clos network. Thus, a Clos network architecture maintains consistent latency throughout the network, which is important for communication within and between data centers. A Clos topology scales horizontally and is cost effective. The bandwidth/throughput capacity of the network can be easily increased by adding more switches at the various tiers (e.g., more leaf and spine switches) and by increasing the number of links between the switches at adjacent tiers.

In certain embodiments, each resource within CSPI is assigned a unique identifier called a Cloud Identifier (CID). This identifier is included as part of the resource's information and can be used to manage the resource, for example, via a Console or through APIs. An example syntax for a CID is:

ocid1.<RESOURCE TYPE>.<REALM>. [REGION][.FUTURE USE].<UNIQUE ID>

where,

-   -   ocid1: The literal string indicating the version of the CID;     -   resource type: The type of resource (for example, instance,         volume, VCN, subnet, user, group, and so on);     -   realm: The realm the resource is in. Example values are “c1” for         the commercial realm, “c2” for the Government Cloud realm, or         “c3” for the Federal Government Cloud realm, etc. Each realm may         have its own domain name;     -   region: The region the resource is in. If the region is not         applicable to the resource, this part might be blank;     -   future use: Reserved for future use.     -   unique ID: The unique portion of the ID. The format may vary         depending on the type of resource or service.

Example of S2C Services

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of an S2C service between private networks, according to at least one embodiment. The S2C service may be provided by resources of a cloud infrastructure 650. The cloud infrastructure 650 may include VCNs deployed for service providers and VCNs deployed for customers. A service provider may operate a service provider private network 660 that includes a VCN 651 deployed by the cloud infrastructure 650. Optionally, the service provider private network 660 also includes an on premise network 661. Similarly, a customer may operate a customer private network that 670 that includes a VCN 652 deployed by the cloud infrastructure 650. Optionally, the customer private network 670 also includes an on premise network 671. The service provider private network 660 may connect with the customer private network 670 via S2C resources 680. A VCN and an on premise network may be connected via a FastConnect or a virtual private network (VPN) connection across a public network, such as the Internet. In addition or alternative to the on premise network, a private network can include peered networks (e.g., other peered VCNs).

In the illustration of FIG. 6 , there may be multiple service provider private networks, each similar to the service provider private network 660. Likewise, there may be multiple customer private networks, each similar to the customer private network 670. For each service provider-customer pair or each service provider private network-customer private network pair, S2C resources are deployed by the cloud infrastructure 650 similarly to the S2C resources 680.

Referring to the pair of the service provider private network 660 and the customer private network 670, the S2C resources 680 provide S2C services including, for instance, a translation services 682. Different types of translation services 682 are possible including, for instance, DNS services, RAC services, and Layer-7 (L7) application services. Generally, a translation service supports data addressing and address translations such that the data can be processed within each one of and can flow between the service provider private network 660 and the customer private network 670.

For instance, a service resource 662 of the service provider private network 660 may send an access request 664 for accessing data of a target resource 672 of the customer private network 670. The source and destination IP addresses of the access request 664 can be usable in the context of the service provider private network 660 but not outside of it. This access request 664 may be received by the S2C resources 680 via connectivity supported by the cloud infrastructure 650. The translation services 682 may generate a translated request 684 by updating the source and destination IP addresses of the access request 664 with IP addresses usable in the context of the customer private network 670 but not outside of it. This translated request 684 may be sent to the target resource 672 via the connectivity supported by the cloud infrastructure 650.

In turn, the target resource 672 may send an access response 674 that includes data from the target resource 672. The source and destination IP addresses of the access response 674 can be usable in the context of the customer private network 670 but not outside of it. This access response 674 may be received by the S2C resources 680 via the connectivity supported by the cloud infrastructure 650. The translation services 682 may generate a translated response 686 by updating the source and destination IP addresses of the access response 674 with IP addresses usable in the context of the service provider private network 660 but not outside of it. This translated response 686 may be sent to the service resource 662 via the connectivity supported by the cloud infrastructure 650.

In an example, the service provider private network 660 may include a set of service resources supporting a set of services, such as analytics, data processing, security service, etc.). In the case of a VCN 651 only implementation, the set can be hosted in the VCN 651 and can include, for instance, compute instances (e.g., virtual machines, bare metal machines). In the case of an implementation that also includes the on premise network 661, the set of service resources can be hosted completely on the premise network 661, completely on the VCN 651, or distributed therebetween.

The customer may subscribe to one or more of the services. Upon a subscription to a service, the corresponding service resource of the service provider private network 660 may need S2C access to one or more target resources of the customer private network 670. In the case of a VCN 652 only implementation, the set of target resources of the customer can be hosted in the VCN 652 and can include, for instance, compute instances (e.g., virtual machines, bare metal machines) and storage instances (e.g., databases). In the case of an implementation that also includes the on premise network 671, the set of target resources can be hosted completely on the premise network 671, completely on the VCN 652, or distributed therebetween.

Generally, a VCN, such as the VCN 651 or the VCN 652, may be a software-defined virtual version of a traditional network, including subnets, route tables, and gateways, on which various compute instances may run. For example, the VCN is a virtual, private network that an entity (e.g., the service provider or the customer) sets up in the cloud infrastructure 650. The cloud infrastructure 650 may reside within a particular region. At least one cloud infrastructure may need to be set up before a compute instance can be launched. The cloud infrastructure 650 can be configured with an optional Internet gateway to handle public traffic, as well as virtual private network (VPN) connection, or OCI FastConnect to securely extend a customer's on premises network.

The VCN can be privately connected to another VCN such that the traffic does not traverse the Internet. In this case, the Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) for the two VCNs may not overlap. However, when a CIDR overlap exists, whether between a service provider's VCN and a customer's VCN or between VCNs of multiple customers of the service providers, private connections may not be used for at least S2C access. For instance, each the VCN 651 and the VCN 652 may have a contiguous range of IP version 4 (IPv4) or version 6 (IPv6) addresses that do not overlap with other subnets in the VCN. In such cases, S2C resources may be deployed.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a service provider private network 710 connected with a customer private network 720 via a set of S2C resources 730 in support of DNS traffic and unproxied S2 traffic, according to at least one embodiment. The service provider private network 710, the customer private network 720, and the S2C resources 730 are examples of the service provider private network 660, the customer private network 670, and the S2C resources 680, respectively. A DNS query originating at the service provider private network 710 and associated with a DNS of the customer can be processed by the S2C resources 730 to provide a DNS resolution to the service provider private network 710. Once resolved, a network address translation (NAT) mapping is generated and traffic can flow between the service provider private network 710 and the customer private network 720 via the set of S2C resources 730 based on the NAT mapping.

As illustrated, the service provider private network 710 includes a service resource 712, a service provider S2C interface 714, and a service provider DNS resolver 716. The service provider S2C interface 714 is connected with and enables the service resource 712 and the service provider DNS resolver 716 to interface with the set of S2C resources 730. Similarly, the customer private network 720 includes a target resource 722, a customer S2C interface 724, and a customer DNS resolver 726. The customer S2C interface 724 is connected with and enables the target resource 722 and the customer DNS resolver 726 to interface with the set of S2C resources 730.

The service resource 712, such as a compute instance, provides a service to the customer, whereby the service necessitates access to the target resource 722, such as a private endpoint. In an example, the customer may have defined a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for access to the target resource 722 (e.g., www.exampleFQDN1.com). Upon a first access to the target resource 722, the service resource 712 may have the FQDN but not the corresponding IP address for use to send traffic to the target resource 722. Accordingly, the service resource 712 may initiate a DNS query that includes the FQDN. The DNS query is received by the service provider S2C interface 714 that, in turn, sends it to the set of S2C resources 730. The set of S2C resources 730 include a DNS proxy. The DNS proxy 732 determines a match between the FQDN with a list of FQDNs predefined by the customer. Based on this match, the DNS proxy 732 sends the DNS query to the customer S2C interface 724 that, in turn, sends it to the customer DNS resolver 726. In response, the customer DNS resolver 726 resolves the DNS query by determining the IP address of the target resource 722, where this IP address corresponds to the FQDN and is usable within the customer private network 720 (e.g., is defined as an address within a range of IP addresses of the customer private network 720). A DNS response that includes the target resource's 722 IP address is sent back to the DNS proxy 732 via the customer S2C interface 724.

Because the target resource's 722 IP address in the DNS response is usable only in the context of the customer private network 720 and not that of the service provider private network 710, the DNS proxy generates and associates a reserved IP address with the target resource's 722 IP address. The reserved IP address can be defined as an address outside the range of the customer private network's 720 IP addresses and outside the range of the service provider private network's 710 IF addresses. The association may be stored in a NAT mapping 734 between the reserved IP address and the target resource's 722 IP address, where this NAT mapping 734 is maintained by the set of S2C resources 730.

Next, the DNS proxy updates the DNS response by at least replacing the target resource's 722 IP address with the reserved IP address and sends the updated DNS response to the service resource 712 via the service provider S2C interface. The service resource 712 receives this DNS response and determines that the FQDN is associated with the reserved IP address can cache this association for subsequent use.

Traffic from the service resource 712 to the target resource 722 and response thereto can rely on the reserved IP address and the NAT mapping 734. For instance, the service resource 712 may send data destined to the reserved IP address. The flow of the data can be proxied via the DNS proxy 732, in which cases address translations are performed by the DNS proxy 732 according to the NAT mapping 734. Additionally or alternatively, the flow of the data may not be proxied via the DNS proxy 732. In this case, the flow of the data may be via a gateway 736 of the set of S2C resources 730. For instance, the gateway 736 may be a private gateway (PAGW) set-up between the service provider private network 710 and the customer private network 720. Here also, the gateway 736 relies on the NAT mapping 734 for the address translation. In both cases, at least the IP destination address is updated by replacing the reserved IP address with the target resource's 722 IP address.

The opposite flow is performed on the response back from the target resource 722. For example, the response data includes the target resource's 722 IP address as the source address. The DNS proxy 732 (when the flow is proxied) or the gateway 736 (when the flow is unproxied) updates this data by at least replacing the target resource's 722 IP address with the reserved IP address as the source address and sends the updated data to the service resource 712.

In another example, the service resource 712 generates and sends a DNS query to the DNS proxy 732 via the service provider S2C interface 714, where this DNS query includes a different FQDN then the one described herein above (e.g., www.exampleFQDN2.com). In this example, the DNS proxy 732 determines that no match exists between the FQDN and the list of FQDNs defined by the customer. A mismatch may be assumed to indicate that the FQDN corresponds to a resource of the service provider private network 710 and, thus, can be resolved by the service provider DNS resolver 716. Accordingly, the DNS proxy 732 sends the DNS query to the service provider DNS resolver 716 via the service provider S2C interface 714. Upon a resolution, the service provider DNS resolver 716 determines an IP address that corresponds to the FQDN and that is usable within the service provider private network 710 (e.g., is defined as an address within a range of IP addresses of the service provider private network 710). The service provider DNS resolver 716 sends this service provider's IP address to the service resource 712 via the service provider S2C interface 714 for subsequent use by the service resource 712.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a service provider private network 810 connected with a customer private network 820 via a set of S2C resources 830 in support of RAC traffic, according to at least one embodiment. The service provider private network 810, the customer private network 820, and the S2C resources 830 are examples of the service provider private network 660, the customer private network 670, and the S2C resources 180, respectively. RAC traffic can originate from a service resource 812 of the service provider private network 810 and can be directed to a database resource 822 of the customer private network 820. In turn, a RAC response can originate from the database resource 822 and can be directed to the service resource 812. The set of S2C resources 830 may include an address translation service 832 that translated between IP addresses to enable the exchange of the RAC traffic and response. Here, no NAT mapping may be needed. Instead, the address translation can rely on knowledge by the address translation service 832 about an IP address of a service provider S2C interface 814 of the service provider private network 810 and about an IP address of a customer S2C interface 824 of the customer private network 820. This knowledge can be a part of the configuration used to deploy the set of S2C resources 830 for the pair of the service provider private network 810 and the customer private network 820.

In an example, the IP addresses of the service provider S2C interface 814 and the customer S2C interface 824 are defined in the configuration file of the set of S2C resources. IP addresses of the service resource 812 and the database resources 822 may also be defined in the configuration file or learned over time based on traffic routing via the set of S2C resources 830.

The service resources 812 can send RAC data to the service provider S2C interface 814, where this data includes the IP address of the service resource 812 as the source address and the IP address of the service provider S2C interface 814 as the destination address. In turn, the service provider S2C interface 814 sends this data to the address translation service 832. The address translation service 832 updates the RAC data by at least replacing the source IP address and the destination IP address with the IP address of the customer S2C interface 824 and the IP address of the database resource 822, respectively. The updated RAC data is sent to the database resources 822 via the customer S2C interface 824.

The opposite flow is performed on the response back from the database resource 822. For example, the response data includes the database resource's 822 IP address as the source address and the customer S2C interface's 824 IP address as the destination address. Here, the address translation service 832 receives updates the data by at least replacing the source IP address and the destination IP address with the service provider S2C interface's 814 IP address and the service resource's 812 IP address, respectively. The updated data is sent to the service resource 812 via the service provider S2C interface 814.

FIGS. 9-11 illustrate examples of network components and connections therebetween of a service provider private network, a customer private network, and a cloud infrastructure. These components are illustrative implementations of some of the components described herein above.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of components of a service provider private network 910, according to at least one embodiment. The service provider private network 910 is an example of the service provider private networks 660, 210, and 810. At least a portion of the service provider private network 910, such as a VCN, is implemented on a cloud infrastructure.

The service provider private network 910 is configured by a service provider to have a set of resources, each of which having an IP address within an IP address range (e.g., 10.0.0.0/16) of the service provider private network 910. The set of resources include, for instance, a service instance 912, a service instance 916, and a DNS resolver 918. The two service instances 912 and 916 may provide different types of services to which customers can subscribe, where such services relies on S2C accesses.

In an example, the service instance 912 is a compute instance that has an IP address (e.g., 10.0.2.2) and that supports DNS querying and a particular communication protocol (e.g., an application-layer protocol such a Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS)). In comparison, the service instance 916 is also a compute instance, but has a different IP address (e.g., 10.0.2.3) and that supports a database access protocol, such as a Single Client Access Name (SCAN) protocol in a RAC environment. The DNS resolver 918 has yet a different IP address (e.g., 10.0.55.55) and supports DNS resolutions of DNS queries related to a domain of the service provider private network 910 (e.g., to FQDNs having IP addresses within the IP address range of the service provider private network 910). Although not illustrated, each of the service instance 912, service instance 916, and DNS resolver 918 may have one or more VNICs to communicate with resources of the service provider private network 910.

Upon a subscription of customers to one or more services of the service provider, a corresponding set of S2C resources is launched to support the service(s). Additionally, an S2C interface 914 is attached to the service provider private network 910 (e.g., to a host of this network). The S2C interface 914 has a number of different IP addresses (FIG. 9 illustrates the number as a positive integer “n”), each of which is within the IP address range of the service provider private network 910 and corresponds to one of the services. For instance, for DNS functionalities, the S2C interface 914 has a first IP address (shown in FIG. 9 as “IP1”), such that DNS traffic 901 is sent to and received using first IP address. Similarly, for RAC functionalities, the S2C interface 914 has a second IP address (shown in FIG. 9 as “IP2”), such that RAC traffic 905 is sent and received using this second IP address.

As further illustrated in the next figures, the cloud infrastructure can include a fleet of virtualization devices dedicated to provide network interface functionalities as a service. In such an implementation, the S2C interface 914 can be a VNIC hosted on the fleet. Its IP addresses (e.g., “IP1”, “IP2”, . . . , “IPn”) may be defined in a configuration file based on input of the service provider. Because of the capability to support multiple IP addresses that belong to the IP address range of the service provider private network 910 and that correspond to different types of services, the S2C interface 914 can be referred to as a floating service (FS) VNIC.

In an example of the DNS traffic 901, the service instance 912 is configured to send any DNS query to the first IP address of the S2C interface (e.g., “IP1”) and to receive a DNS resolution from this IP address. Similarly, DNS queries that can be resolved via the DNS resolver 918 are sent using the first IP address. In comparison, to support the RAC traffic 905, the service instance 916 is configured to send any RAC traffic and to receive RAC return to and from the second IP address of the S2C interface (e.g., “IP2”).

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of components of a customer private network 1010, according to at least one embodiment. The customer private network 1010 is an example of the customer private networks 670, 720, and 820. At least a portion of the customer private network 1010, such as a VCN, is implemented on a cloud infrastructure.

The customer private network 1010 is configured by a customer to have a set of resources, each of which having an IP address within an IP address range (e.g., 10.0.0.0/16) of the customer private network 1010. Referring back to FIG. 9 , the IP address range of the customer private network 1010 may overlap with the IP address range of the service provider private network 910. The set of resources include, for instance, a customer endpoint 1014, a DNS resolver 1016, and a database service 1018. The customer may subscribe to services of the service provider, such as to the services supported by the service instances 912 and 916, thereby necessitating S2C access to the customer endpoint 1014 and the database service 1018.

The customer endpoint 1014 represents a target resource, such as compute instance with the customer's VCN or the customer's on premise network, that is associated with a service of the service provider and that has an IP address (shown as 10.0.10.2) within the IP address range of the customer private network 1010. In an example, the customer endpoint 1014 has a private IP address and is configured to only access the service of the service provider via the cloud infrastructure facilitates. In this example, a private endpoint (such as a VNIC with a private IP address) exposes the target resource to the service. The database service 1018 represents a resource that has an IP address (shown as 10.0.10.10) within the IP address range of the customer private network 1010 and that provides a service for managing workloads in databases of the customer. The databases can be within the VCN and/or on premise network of the customer. The DNS resolver 1016 has yet a different IP address (e.g., 10.0.33.33) and supports DNS resolutions of DNS queries related to a domain of the customer private network 1010 (e.g., to FQDNs having IP addresses within the IP address range of the customer private network 1010). Although not illustrated, each of the customer endpoint 1014, DNS resolver 1016, and database service 1018 may have one or more VNICs to communicate with resources of the customer private network 1010.

Upon a subscription of customers to one or more services of the customer, a corresponding set of S2C resources is launched to support the service(s). Additionally, an S2C interface 1012 is attached to the customer private network 1010 (e.g., to a host of this network). The S2C interface 1012 has a number of different IP addresses (FIG. 10 illustrates the number as a positive integer “n”), each of which is within the IP address range of the customer private network 1010 and corresponds to one of the services. For instance, for unproxied S2C traffic, a first IP address of the S2C interface 1012 is usable (shown as “IP1”). For DNS traffic and RAC traffic, a second IP address of the S2C interface 1012 is usable (shown as “IP2”). For customer to service provider (C2S) traffic, yet another IP address of the S2C interface 1012 is usable (e.g., “IPn”).

As further illustrated in the next figures, the cloud infrastructure can include a fleet of virtualization devices dedicated to provide network interface functionalities as a service. In such an implementation, the S2C interface 1012 can be a VNIC hosted on the fleet. Its IP addresses (e.g., “IP1”, “IP2”, . . . , “IPn”) may be defined in a configuration file based on input of the customer. Because of the capability to support multiple IP addresses that belong to the IP address range of the customer private network 1010 and that correspond to different types of services, the S2C interface 1012 can be referred to as an FS VNIC.

FIG. 11 illustrates example of components of a cloud infrastructure 1100 that implements S2C resources, according to at least one embodiment. The cloud infrastructure 1100 is an example of the cloud infrastructure 150 of FIG. 1 . As illustrated, the components includes a gateway 1110, a virtualization device fleet 1120, a DNS resource 1130, a NAT mapping data store 1140, and a RAC resource 1150. Generally, these components enable S2C access from a service provider private network to a customer private network. Whereas the virtualization device fleet 1120 is in the physical network of the cloud infrastructure 1100, the gateway 1110, the DNS resource 1130, the RAC resource 1150, and the NAT mapping data store 1140 may be in a virtual network (e.g., an overlay network) over the physical network.

In an example, the gateway 1110 allows traffic between the service provider private network to a customer private network. The gateway 1110 may be configured as a service gateway lets the customer's VCN privately access specific a service provided via the service provider's VCN without exposing the data to the public internet. In this case, the gateway 1110 may be referred to as a private gateway. As indicated above, S2C access may be based on reserved IP addresses (e.g., Class E IP addresses). The gateway 1110 may store NAT mappings 1112 that map the reserved IP address to an IP address of the customer private network (e.g., destination NAT-DNAT) for data from the service provider private network to the customer private network. For data in the opposite direction, the NAT mappings 1112 that map the IP address of the customer's S2C interface (e.g., “IP1” of the FS VNIC described in FIG. 10 ) to the service resource of the service provider computer network.

The virtualization device fleet 1120 includes a group of virtualization devices that are dedicated to provide virtual network interfaces. A VNIC can reside in a subnet and attach to a compute instance. Although not illustrated in FIG. 11 , the virtualization device fleet 1120 provides an FS VNIC that attaches to the service provider private network (e.g., a service provider S2C interface) and an FS VNIC that attaches to the customer private network (e.g., a customer S2C interface). In addition, the virtualization device fleet 1120 provides VNICs that attach to S2C resources, such as to the DNS resource 1130 and the RAC resource 1150. These VNICs may be a lightweight version that does not support security list processing, route rule processing, or peer mapping and may be referred to as micro-VNICs (μVNICs).

The DNS resource 1130 represents an S2C resources that supports DNS functionalities including DNS arbitration (e.g., a determination of whether a queried FQDN is a customer's FQDN or a service provider's FQDN), DNS resolution (e.g., by sending the DNS query to a customer's DNS resolver or a service provider's DNS resolver depending on the arbitration), and NAT mapping of IP addresses. In an example, the DNS resource 1130 is deployed upon a customer's subscription to a service of a service provider, where the subscription involves S2C DNS traffic from the service provider private network and the customer private network. The DNS resource 1130 includes a service provider facing (SPF) S2C interface 1132, a customer facing (CF) S2C interface 1134, and a DNS proxy 1136. Each of the SPF S2C interface 1132 and the CF S2C interface 1134 can be μVNIC provided by the virtualization device fleet 1120. The SPF S2C interface 1132 is configured to communicate with the service provider's FS VNIC. In comparison, the CF S2C interface 1134 is configured to communicate with the customer's FS VNIC. The DNS proxy 1136 receives a DNS query via the SPF S2C interface 1132, performs the arbitration and sends the DNS query to the customer's DNS resolver via the CF S2C interface or to the service provider's DNS resolver via the SPF S2C interface 1132 as applicable. Upon receiving a DNS response from the customer's DNS resolver via the CF S2C interface 1134, the DNS proxy further maps the customer's IP address from the DNS response to a reserved IP address and stores the mapping in the NAT mapping data store 1140, modifies the query response to include the reserved IP address, and sends the modified response to the service provider private network via the SPF S2C interface 1132.

The NAT mapping data store 1140 can maintain the different mappings between reserved IP address and customer IP addresses (e.g., DNAT mappings) on a regional basis. Such mappings can be retrieved and stored by the gateway 1110 as part of the DNAT mappings of the NAT mappings 1112.

The RAC resource 1150 represents an S2C resources that supports RAC functionalities including an address translations service. In an example, the RAC Resource 1150 is deployed upon a customer's subscription to a service of a service provider, where the subscription involves S2C RAC traffic from the service provider private network and the customer private network. The RAC resource 1150 includes an SPF S2C interface 1152, a CF S2C interface 1154, and a RAC proxy 1156. Each of the SPF S2C interface 1152 and the CF S2C interface 1154 can be μVNIC provided by the virtualization device fleet 1120. The SPF S2C interface 1152 is configured to communicate with the service provider's FS VNIC. In comparison, the CF S2C interface 1154 is configured to communicate with the customer's FS VNIC. The RAC proxy 1156 receives RAC traffic from the service provider private network, re-addresses this traffic to use IP addresses of the customer private network, and sends the updated RAC traffic via the CF S2C 1154. In the opposite flow, the RAC proxy 1156 receives RAC return from the customer private network, re-addresses this return to use IP addresses of the service private network, and sends the updated RAC return via the SPF S2C 1152.

In an example, to achieve high availability, for each service provider-customer pair, a plurality of redundant S2C resources are launched (e.g., three sets of the DNS resource 1130). Upon receiving a packet to be sent to an S2C resource, the virtualization device fleet 1120 can select one of the plurality of the S2C resources to which the packet is sent. Different types of selections are possible. For instance, the S2C resource is selected randomly. In another illustration, load balancing is accounted for by tracking the number of packets processed per S2C resource. In yet another illustration, the selection can depend on the packet itself. For instance, the packet includes protocol information, source IP address, source port, destination IP address, and destination port. This five tuple represents a signature of the packet. The signature can be hashed. The hash can be compared to multiple hash ranges, each of which corresponds to one of the S2C resources. Upon matching the hash to a hash range of an S2C resource, that S2C resource is selected and the packet is sent thereto.

The flow of data through the various components of the cloud infrastructure 150 is further described in FIGS. 12-14 . Examples about DNS querying, unproxied traffic, and RAC traffic are provided for illustrative purposes. Reference is also made back to components described in FIGS. 9-6 in the interest of clarity of explanation.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a DNS traffic, according to at least one embodiment. The service instance 912 initiates a DNS query 1210 for a particular FQDN that belongs to a DNS of the customer. Accordingly, a DNS request 1212 is sent from the service instance 912 to the service provider's S2C interface 914. In an example, the DNS request 1212 is a packet that includes a header and a payload. The source address of the header is the IP address of the service instance (e.g., 10.0.2.2). The destination address of the header is the IP address of the S2C interface 914, where this IP address is specific to DNS querying (e.g., “IP1” shown as 10.0.3.11). The payload includes the FQDN.

Next, the DNS request 121 is sent from the service provider private network 910 to the DNS resource 1130. At a logical level, the S2C interface 914 sends the DNS request 1212 to the SPF S2C interface 1132. At a physical level, the DNS request 1212 is routed through the virtualization device fleet 1120.

The DNS proxy 1136 receives the DNS request 121 and determines a match between the FQDN and a list of FQDNs defined by the customer. This determination can involve string suffix matching. The DNS proxy 1136 then updates the DNS request 121 by changing the header information. For example, the source address is changed to the IP address of the customer's S2C interface 1012, where this IP address is configured to receive DNS queries (e.g., “IP2” shown as 10.0.2.22). The destination address is also changed to the IP address of the customer's DNS resolver 1016 (e.g., 10.0.33.33). The payload remains the same and includes the FQDN. The resulting DNS request 1222 is sent to the customer private network 1010. At a logical level, the CF S2C interface 1134 sends the DNS request 1222 to the customer's S2C interface 1012. At a physical level, the DNS request 1222 is routed through the virtualization device fleet 1120.

The customer's S2C interface 1012 receives and sends the DNS request 1222 to the customer's DNS resolver 1016 given its header. In turn, the customer's DNS resolver 1016 resolves the FQDN to a customer IP address (e.g., 10.0.10.2 correspond to the customer endpoint 1014) and sends a DNS response 1232 back. In an example, the DNS response 1232 is a packet that includes a header and a payload. The source address of the header is the IP address of the DNS resolver (e.g., 10.0.33.33). The destination address of the header is the IP address of the S2C interface 1012, where this IP address is specific to DNS querying (e.g., “IP2” shown as 10.0.2.22). The payload includes the customer IP address (e.g., 10.0.10.2).

The customer's S2C interface 1012 receives and sends the DNS response 1232 to the DNS proxy 1136 via the CF S2C interface 1134. The DNS proxy 1136 maps the custom IP address from the payload to a reserved IP address (shown as 254.0.2.35) and stores the resulting NAT mapping 1224 in the NAT mapping data store 1140. Further, the DNS proxy 1136 updates the DNS response 1232 by changing the header information. For example, the source address is changed to the IP address of the service's S2C interface 914, where this IP address is configured to receive DNS queries (e.g., “IP1” shown as 10.0.3.11). The destination address is also changed to the IP address of the service instance 912 (e.g., 10.0.2.2). The payload includes the reserved IP address (e.g., 254.0.2.35). The resulting DNS response 1226 is sent to the service provider's S2C interface 914 via the SPF S2C interface 1132. In turn, the service provider's S2C interface 914 sends the DNS response 1226 to the service instance 912 given its header information.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of unproxied traffic, according to at least one embodiment. Here, the service instance 912 has already performed the DNS query and has a resolution of the customer's FQDN to a reserved IP address (e.g., 254.0.2.35). The service instance 912 sends S2C traffic 1312 to the gateway. In an example, the S2C traffic 1312 includes a packet. The packet's header includes the IP address of the service instance as the source address (shown as 10.0.2.2) and the reserved IP address as the destination address.

Next, the gateway 1110 looks up the NAT mappings 1112 and determines, from the DNAT mappings, that the reserved IP address is mapped to the customer IP address (e.g., 10.0.10.2) and, from the SNAT mappings, that the service instance IP address is mapped to the IP address of the customer's S2C interface for unproxied traffic (e.g., “IP1” shown as 10.0.2.21). The gateway 1110 updates the S2C traffic 1312 by changing the header information. For example, the source address is changed to the IP address of the customer's S2C interface (e.g., 10.0.2.21). The destination address is also changed to the customer IP address (e.g., 10.0.10.2). The resulting S2C traffic 1322 is sent to the customer's S2C interface 1012. At a physical level, the S2C traffic 1322 is routed through the virtualization device fleet 1120.

The customer's S2C interface 1012 receives and sends the S2C traffic 1322 to the customer endpoint 1014 given its header information. In response, the customer endpoint 1014 generates and sends S2C return 1332. In an example, the S2C return includes a packet. The packet's header includes the IP address of the customer endpoint as the source address (e.g., 10.0.10.2)) and the IP address of the S2C customer's S2C interface 1012 (e.g., 10.0.2.21).

Thereafter, the customer's S2C interface 1012 sends the S2C response 1332 to the gateway 1110. Based on the NAT mappings 1112, the gateway updates the S2C return. For example, the source address is changed to the reserved IP address (e.g., 254.0.2.35) and the destination address is changed to the service instance's 912 IP address (e.g., 10.0.2.2). The resulting S2C return 1324 is sent to the service instance 912.

FIG. 14 depicts another example of a DNS traffic, according to at least one embodiment. Here, the DNS query is to an FQDN that belongs to a domain name of the service provider, rather than the customer. The service instance 912 initiates a DNS query 1410 for the FQDN. Accordingly, a DNS request 1412 is sent from the service instance 912 to the service provider's S2C interface 914. In an example, the DNS request 1412 is a packet that includes a header and a payload. The source address of the header is the IP address of the service instance (e.g., 10.0.2.2). The destination address of the header is the IP address of the S2C interface 914, where this IP address is specific to DNS querying (e.g., “IP1” shown as 10.0.3.11). The payload includes the FQDN.

Next, the DNS request 1412 is sent from the service provider private network 910 to the DNS resource 1130. At a logical level, the S2C interface 914 sends the DNS request 1412 to the SPF S2C interface 1132. At a physical level, the DNS request 1412 is routed through the virtualization device fleet 1120.

The DNS proxy 1136 receives the DNS request 1412 and determines that no match exists between the FQDN and the list of FQDNs defined by the customer. This determination can involve string suffix matching. Accordingly, the DNS proxy 1136 defaults to a determination that the FQDN belongs to a DNS of the service provider. The DNS proxy 1136 re-addresses the DNS request 1412 by changing the source address to the IP address of the S2C interface 914 (e.g., 10.0.3.11) and the destination address to the service provider's DNS resolver 918 (e.g., 10.0.55.55). The resulting query request 1422 is sent back to the S2C interface 914 that, in turn, sends it to the DNS resolver 918. Upon performing a DNS resolution and determining a service provider IP address that corresponds to the FQDN, the DNS resolver 918 sends a DNS response to the S2C interface 914. The DNS response 1414 can be a packet that has a header and a payload. The source address of the header is the IP address of the DNS resolver 918 (e.g., 10.0.55.55). The destination address of the header is the IP address of the S2C interface 914 (e.g., 10.0.3.11). The payload includes the service provider IP address. In turn, the S2C interface 914 re-addresses the DNS response 1414 by changing the source address to the IP address of the S2C interface 914 (e.g., 10.0.3.11) and the destination address to the service instance 912 (e.g., 10.0.2.2). The resulting query response 1416 is sent to the service instance 912.

FIG. 15 depicts an example of RAC traffic, according to at least one embodiment. As illustrated, the service instance 916 generates and sends RAC traffic 1512. The RAC traffic 1512 can include a packet that has a header and a payload. The source address of the header is the IP address of the service instance 916 (e.g., 10.0.2.3). The destination address of the header is the IP address of the S2C interface 914, where this IP address is configured for RAC traffic (e.g., “IP2” shown as 10.0.3.12). The payload includes a database query.

Next, the RAC traffic 1512 is sent from the service provider private network 910 to the RAC resource 1150. At a logical level, the S2C interface 914 sends the RAC traffic 1512 to the SPF S2C interface 1152. At a physical level, the RAC traffic 1512 is routed through the virtualization device fleet 1120.

The RAC proxy 1156 receives and re-addresses the RAC traffic 1512 for forwarding to the customer private network. For example, the source IP address is changed to the IP address of the customer's S2C interface 1012, where this IP address is configured for RAC traffic (e.g., “IP2” shown as 10.0.2.22). The destination IP address is changed to the IP address of the database service 1018 (e.g., 10.0.10.10). The payload does not change. The resulting S2C traffic 1522 is sent to the customer's S2C interface 1012 via the CF S2C interface 1154.

The customer's S2C interface 1012 receives and sends the S2C traffic 1522 to the database service 1018 given its header. In turn, the database service 1018 generates and sends RAC return 1532 based on the payload. The RAC return 1532 can include a packet that has a header and a payload. The source address of the header is the IP address of the database service (e.g., 10.0.10.10). The destination address of the header is the IP address of the customer's S2C interface 1012 (e.g., 10.0.2.22). The payload is the result of the database query. In turn, the customer's S2C interface 1012 sends the RAC return 1532 to the RAC proxy 1156 via the CF S2C interface 1154.

The RAC proxy 1156 receives and re-addresses the RAC return 1532 for forwarding to the service provider private network. For example, the source IP address is changed to the IP address of the service provider's S2C interface 914, where this IP address is configured for RAC traffic (e.g., “IP2” shown as 10.0.3.12). The destination IP address is changed to the IP address of the service instance (e.g., 10.0.2.3). The payload does not change. The resulting RAC return 1524 is sent to the service provider's S2C interface 914 via the SPF S2C interface 1152. The service provider's S2C interface 914 sends the RAC return 1524 to the service instance 916 given its header.

FIGS. 16-21 illustrate examples of flows for providing S2C access. Some or all of the instructions for performing the operations of flows can be implemented as hardware circuitry and/or stored as computer-readable instructions on a non-transitory computer-readable medium of a computer system that includes, for instance, a cloud infrastructure. As implemented, the instructions represent modules that include circuitry or code executable by processors of the computer system. The use of such instructions configures the computer system to perform the specific operations described herein. Each circuitry or code in combination with the relevant processor(s) represent a means for performing a respective operation(s). While the operations are illustrated in a particular order, it should be understood that no particular order is necessary and that one or more operations may be omitted, skipped, performed in parallel, and/or reordered.

FIG. 16 depicts an example of a flow for providing S2C services, according to at least one embodiment. The flow may start at operation 1602, where service provider data is received and is associated with a service of a service provider. For instance a service provider may operate a service provider private network that includes a VCN, where the VCN is an overlay of the cloud infrastructure. The service provider private network may support different types of services. A control plane of the cloud infrastructure may receive input from a device of the service provider. The input may include various data for configuring the services, such as fata identifying the services and setting a network configuration to provide the services including, for instance, a subnet and IP addresses to use. At operation 1604, customer data is received and is associated with the server. For instance a customer may operate a customer private network that includes a VCN, where the VCN is an overlay of the cloud infrastructure. A control plane of the cloud infrastructure may receive input from a device of the user. The input may include various data for configuring the service for the customer, such as data identifying the service and setting up a private endpoint that the service can access including, for instance, a subnet, IP addresses, and FQDNs to use. At operation 1606, S2C resources can be deployed. For instance, the S2C resources are deployed specifically for the service-provider pair and supports the service(s) that the customer requests. Deploying can include launching redundant hosts that provide S2C services, such as redundant DNS resources and redundant RAC resources. S2C interfaces can also be deployed. At operation 1602, S2C access of a service resource to a target resource is managed. For instance, the S2C resources manage the S2C access depending on the requested service(s). For DNS querying, a DNS resource can provide a DNS proxy and NAT mapping functionalities. For RAC querying, a RAC resource can provide address translation. For unproxied traffic, a gateway can retrieve NAT mappings generated by the DNS resource such that the unproxied traffic can be routed.

FIG. 17 depicts an example of a flow for supporting DNS traffic, unproxied traffic, and RAC traffic by a service provider private network, according to at least one embodiment. The example flow can be performed by a service resource of the service provider private network. The flow may start at operation 1702, where the service instance determines an FQDN of a customer endpoint that is to receive a service provided by the service instance. At operation 1704, the service instance may send a DNS query having a first predefined IP destination address. For instance, this destination address is set to an IP address of an S2C interface of the service provider (e.g., a first predefined IP address), where the IP address is set up for DNS querying. At operation 1706, the service instance receives a DNS query response. The DNS query response can be a packet that includes a payload that indicates a DNS resolution. The payload can include a reserved IP address that is mapped by, for instance, an S2C DNS resource to a customer IP address of the customer endpoint. At operation 1708, the service instance sends traffic directed to the customer endpoint. The traffic can include a packet that uses the reserved IP address as a destination address, and the IP address of the service instance as the source address. The packet can be sent to a gateway. At operation 1710, the service instance receives traffic return. The traffic return originates from the customer endpoint, is received from the gateway, and can include a packet. The packet uses the reserved IP address as the source address and the IP address of the service instance as the destination address (e.g., the first predefined IP address). At operation 1712, the same or a different service instance sends RAC traffic that is directed to a database service of the customer. The RAC traffic can include a packet. The source address of the packet is the IP address of the service instance. The destination address of the packet is a second predefined IP address of the S2C interface of the service provider, where this IP address is set up for the RAC traffic. At operation 1714, the service receives RAC return. The RAC return originates from the customer's database service, is received from the S2C interface, and can include a packet. The packet uses the second predefined IP address of the S2C interface as the source address and the IP address of the service instance as the destination address.

FIG. 18 depicts an example of a flow for supporting DNS traffic, unproxied traffic, and RAC traffic by a customer private network, according to at least one embodiment. At operation 1802, the customer private network receives a DNS query having a first predefined IP source address. For example, the DNS query includes a packet that has a header and a payload. The payload includes an FQDN. The source address of the header is an IP address of a customer's S2C interface (e.g., a first predefined IP address), where the IP address is configured for DNS querying. The destination address of the header is an IP address of a customer's DNS resolver. The DNS query can be received from an S2C DNS resource. The S2C interface sends the DNS query to the DNS resolver for resolution. At operation 1804, the customer private network sends a DNS response. The DNS response can include a packet. The packet's payload includes a customer IP address associated with the FQDN. The source address of the packet's header is the IP address of the DNS resolver. the destination address of the packet's header is IP address of a customer's S2C interface (e.g, the first predefined IP address). The S2C interface sends the DNS response to the S2C DNS resource. At operation 1806, the customer private network receives traffic directed to the customer endpoint. The traffic can include a packet that originates from the service instance and that is sent via the gateway. The destination address of the packet is the IP address of the customer endpoint. The source address of the packet is a second predefined IP address of the customer's S2C interface, where this IP address is configured for unproxied traffic. At operation 1808, the customer private network sends traffic return. Here also, the traffic return can include a packet. The destination address of the packet is the second predefined IP address. The source address of the packet is the IP address of the customer endpoint. At operation 1810, the customer private network receives RAC traffic directed to the database service. The traffic can include a packet that originates from the service instance and that is sent via the S2C RAC resource. The destination address of the packet is the IP address of the database service. The source address of the packet is the first predefined IP address of the customer's S2C interface. At operation 1812, the customer private network sends RAC return. The RAC return can include a packet. The destination address of the packet is the first predefined IP address. The source address of the packet is the IP address of the database service.

FIG. 19 depicts an example of a flow for supporting a DNS service by S2C resources, according to at least one embodiment. The S2C resources can include, for instance a DNS resource. In an example, the flow may start at operation 1902, where the DNS resource receives a DNS query. The DNS query can originate from the service instance, include a packet, and be received from the service provider's S2C interface. As such, the destination address of the packet is a first predefined IP address of the service provider's S2C interface, where this IP address is configured for DNS querying. The payload of the packet can include an FQDN. The source address of the packet is the IP address of the service instance. At operation 1904, DNS resource can perform an arbitration, by which it determines whether the FQDN matches a list of FDQNs defined by the customer. If so, operation 1910 follows operation 1904. Otherwise, operation 1920 is performed. At operation 1910, the DNS resource sends a DNS query that includes the payload and that is directed to a DNS resolver of the customer. The DNS query can be a packet. The destination address of the packet can be the IP address of the DNS resolver. The source address of the packet can be a second predefined IP address of the customer's S2C interface, where this IP address is configured for DNS querying. The DNS query is sent to the DNS resolver via the customer's S2C interface. At operation 1912, the DNS resource receives a DNS response to the DNS query. The DNS response originates from the customer's DNS resolver, is received via the customer's S2C interface, and includes a customer IP address of the customer endpoint associated with the FQDN. The DNS response can include a packet. The destination address of the packet is the second predefined IP address of the customer's S2C interface. The source address is the IP address of the DNS resolver. At operation 1914, the DNS resource maps the customer IP address from the DNS response to a reserved IP address. At operation 1916, the DNS resource stores this NAT mapping in a NAT mapping data store. At operation 1918, the DNS resource sends a DNS response that includes the reserved IP address. For instance, the DNS response is a packet. The packet's payload includes the reserved IP address. The packet's source address is the first predefined IP address of the service provider's S2C interface. The packet's destination address is the IP address of the service instance. The packet is sent to the service provider's S2C interface. At operation 1920, the DNS resource determines that the FQDN belongs to the service provider. Accordingly, the DNS resource sends a DNS query to the service provider's DNS resolver. The DNS query can include a packet having the FQDN in the payload. The packet's source address is the first predefined IP address of the service provider's S2C interface. The packet's destination address is the IP address of the service provider's DNS resolver. The packet is sent to the service provider's S2C interface

FIG. 20 depicts an example of a flow for supporting unproxied S2C traffic, according to at least one embodiment. In an example, the flow may start at operation 2002, where a gateway receives traffic having the reserved IP address. For instance, the traffic includes a packet. The packet's source address is the IP address of the service instance. The packet's destination address is the reserved IP address. At operation 2004, the gateway determines the customer IP address of the customer endpoint. For example, the reserved IP address is used in a look-up to a NAT mapping that associates it with the customer IP address. At operation 2006, the gateway sends traffic using the customer IP address. For instance, the header of the packet is updated, whereby the destination address is changed from the reserved IP address to the customer IP address. The source address can also be updated to be an IP address of the customer's S2C interface, where this IP address is configured for unproxied S2C traffic. The packet can be sent to the customer's S2C interface. At operation 2008, the gateway receives traffic return having the customer IP address. For instance, the traffic return includes a packet. The packet's source address is the customer IP address. The packet's destination address is the IP address of the customer's S2C interface. The packet can be received from the customer's S2C interface. At operation 2010, the gateway determines the reserved IP address. For instance, a reversed NAT mapping look-up is used. At operation 2014, the gateway sends traffic return having the reserved IP address. For instance, the traffic return includes a packet. The packet's source address is the reserved IP address. The packet's destination address is the IP address of the service instance. The packet is sent to the service instance.

FIG. 21 depicts an example of a flow for supporting a RAC service by S2C resources, according to at least one embodiment. In an example, the flow may start at operation 2102, where a RAC resource receives RAC traffic. The RAC traffic originates from a service instance of the service provider private network and can include a packet. The packet's source address is the IP address of the service instance. The packet's destination address is a first predefined IP address of the service provider's IP address, where this IP address is configured for RAC traffic. The packet can be received from the service provider's S2C interface. At operation 2104, the RAC resource determines a second predefined IP address of the customer's S2C interface, where this IP address is also configured for RAC traffic. At operation 2106, the RAC resource sends RAC traffic using the second predefined IP address. For instance, the header of the packet is updated, whereby the destination address is changed from the first predefined IP address to the IP address of the customer's database service. The packet's source address is changed from the service instance's IP address to the second predefined IP address. The packet can be sent to the customer's S2C interface. At operation 2108, the RAC resources received a RAC return having the second predefined IP address. For instance, the RAC return includes a packet. The packet's source address is the database service's IP address. The packet's destination address is the second predefined IP address of the customer's S2C interface. The packet can be received from the customer's S2C interface. At operation 2110, the RAC service determines the first predefined IP address as the address to which the RAC return is to be sent. At operation 2114, the RAC service sends RAC return having the first predefined IP address. For instance, the RAC return includes a packet. The packet's source address is the first predefined IP address. The packet's destination address is the IP address of the service instance. The packet is sent to the service provider's S2C interface.

Example Infrastructure as a Service Architectures

As noted above, infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is one particular type of cloud computing. IaaS can be configured to provide virtualized computing resources over a public network (e.g., the Internet). In an IaaS model, a cloud computing provider can host the infrastructure components (e.g., servers, storage devices, network nodes (e.g., hardware), deployment software, platform virtualization (e.g., a hypervisor layer), or the like). In some cases, an IaaS provider may also supply a variety of services to accompany those infrastructure components (e.g., billing, monitoring, logging, security, load balancing and clustering, etc.). Thus, as these services may be policy-driven, IaaS users may be able to implement policies to drive load balancing to maintain application availability and performance.

In some instances, IaaS customers may access resources and services through a wide area network (WAN), such as the Internet, and can use the cloud provider's services to install the remaining elements of an application stack. For example, the user can log in to the IaaS platform to create virtual machines (VMs), install operating systems (OSs) on each VM, deploy middleware such as databases, create storage buckets for workloads and backups, and even install enterprise software into that VM. Customers can then use the provider's services to perform various functions, including balancing network traffic, troubleshooting application issues, monitoring performance, managing disaster recovery, etc.

In most cases, a cloud computing model will require the participation of a cloud provider. The cloud provider may, but need not be, a third-party service that specializes in providing (e.g., offering, renting, selling) IaaS. An entity might also opt to deploy a private cloud, becoming its own provider of infrastructure services.

In some examples, IaaS deployment is the process of putting a new application, or a new version of an application, onto a prepared application server or the like. It may also include the process of preparing the server (e.g., installing libraries, daemons, etc.). This is often managed by the cloud provider, below the hypervisor layer (e.g., the servers, storage, network hardware, and virtualization). Thus, the customer may be responsible for handling (OS), middleware, and/or application deployment (e.g., on self-service virtual machines (e.g., that can be spun up on demand) or the like.

In some examples, IaaS provisioning may refer to acquiring computers or virtual hosts for use, and even installing needed libraries or services on them. In most cases, deployment does not include provisioning, and the provisioning may need to be performed first.

In some cases, there are two different challenges for IaaS provisioning. First, there is the initial challenge of provisioning the initial set of infrastructure before anything is running. Second, there is the challenge of evolving the existing infrastructure (e.g., adding new services, changing services, removing services, etc.) once everything has been provisioned. In some cases, these two challenges may be addressed by enabling the configuration of the infrastructure to be defined declaratively. In other words, the infrastructure (e.g., what components are needed and how they interact) can be defined by one or more configuration files. Thus, the overall topology of the infrastructure (e.g., what resources depend on which, and how they each work together) can be described declaratively. In some instances, once the topology is defined, a workflow can be generated that creates and/or manages the different components described in the configuration files.

In some examples, an infrastructure may have many interconnected elements. For example, there may be one or more virtual private clouds (VPCs) (e.g., a potentially on-demand pool of configurable and/or shared computing resources), also known as a core network. In some examples, there may also be one or more security group rules provisioned to define how the security of the network will be set up and one or more virtual machines (VMs). Other infrastructure elements may also be provisioned, such as a load balancer, a database, or the like. As more and more infrastructure elements are desired and/or added, the infrastructure may incrementally evolve.

In some instances, continuous deployment techniques may be employed to enable deployment of infrastructure code across various virtual computing environments. Additionally, the described techniques can enable infrastructure management within these environments. In some examples, service teams can write code that is desired to be deployed to one or more, but often many, different production environments (e.g., across various different geographic locations, sometimes spanning the entire world). However, in some examples, the infrastructure on which the code will be deployed must first be set up. In some instances, the provisioning can be done manually, a provisioning tool may be utilized to provision the resources, and/or deployment tools may be utilized to deploy the code once the infrastructure is provisioned.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram 2200 illustrating an example pattern of an IaaS architecture, according to at least one embodiment. Service operators 2202 can be communicatively coupled to a secure host tenancy 2204 that can include a virtual cloud network (VCN) 2206 and a secure host subnet 2208. In some examples, the service operators 2202 may be using one or more client computing devices, which may be portable handheld devices (e.g., an iPhone®, cellular telephone, an iPad®, computing tablet, a personal digital assistant (PDA)) or wearable devices (e.g., a Google Glass® head mounted display), running software such as Microsoft Windows Mobile®, and/or a variety of mobile operating systems such as iOS, Windows Phone, Android, BlackBerry 8, Palm OS, and the like, and being Internet, e-mail, short message service (SMS), Blackberry®, or other communication protocol enabled. Alternatively, the client computing devices can be general purpose personal computers including, by way of example, personal computers and/or laptop computers running various versions of Microsoft Windows®, Apple Macintosh®, and/or Linux operating systems. The client computing devices can be workstation computers running any of a variety of commercially-available UNIX® or UNIX-like operating systems, including without limitation the variety of GNU/Linux operating systems, such as for example, Google Chrome OS. Alternatively, or in addition, client computing devices may be any other electronic device, such as a thin-client computer, an Internet-enabled gaming system (e.g., a Microsoft Xbox gaming console with or without a Kinect® gesture input device), and/or a personal messaging device, capable of communicating over a network that can access the VCN 2206 and/or the Internet.

The VCN 2206 can include a local peering gateway (LPG) 2210 that can be communicatively coupled to a secure shell (SSH) VCN 2212 via an LPG 2210 contained in the SSH VCN 2212. The SSH VCN 2212 can include an SSH subnet 2214, and the SSH VCN 2212 can be communicatively coupled to a control plane VCN 2216 via the LPG 2210 contained in the control plane VCN 2216. Also, the SSH VCN 2212 can be communicatively coupled to a data plane VCN 2218 via an LPG 2210. The control plane VCN 2216 and the data plane VCN 2218 can be contained in a service tenancy 2219 that can be owned and/or operated by the IaaS provider.

The control plane VCN 2216 can include a control plane demilitarized zone (DMZ) tier 2220 that acts as a perimeter network (e.g., portions of a corporate network between the corporate intranet and external networks). The DMZ-based servers may have restricted responsibilities and help keep security breaches contained. Additionally, the DMZ tier 2220 can include one or more load balancer (LB) subnet(s) 2222, a control plane app tier 2224 that can include app subnet(s) 2226, a control plane data tier 2228 that can include database (DB) subnet(s) 2230 (e.g., frontend DB subnet(s) and/or backend DB subnet(s)). The LB subnet(s) 2222 contained in the control plane DMZ tier 2220 can be communicatively coupled to the app subnet(s) 2226 contained in the control plane app tier 2224 and an Internet gateway 2234 that can be contained in the control plane VCN 2216, and the app subnet(s) 2226 can be communicatively coupled to the DB subnet(s) 2230 contained in the control plane data tier 2228 and a service gateway 2236 and a network address translation (NAT) gateway 2238. The control plane VCN 2216 can include the service gateway 2236 and the NAT gateway 2238.

The control plane VCN 2216 can include a data plane mirror app tier 2240 that can include app subnet(s) 2226. The app subnet(s) 2226 contained in the data plane mirror app tier 2240 can include a virtual network interface controller (VNIC) 2242 that can execute a compute instance 2244. The compute instance 2244 can communicatively couple the app subnet(s) 2226 of the data plane mirror app tier 2240 to app subnet(s) 2226 that can be contained in a data plane app tier 2246.

The data plane VCN 2218 can include the data plane app tier 2246, a data plane DMZ tier 2248, and a data plane data tier 2250. The data plane DMZ tier 2248 can include LB subnet(s) 2222 that can be communicatively coupled to the app subnet(s) 2226 of the data plane app tier 2246 and the Internet gateway 2234 of the data plane VCN 2218. The app subnet(s) 2226 can be communicatively coupled to the service gateway 2236 of the data plane VCN 2218 and the NAT gateway 2238 of the data plane VCN 2218. The data plane data tier 2250 can also include the DB subnet(s) 2230 that can be communicatively coupled to the app subnet(s) 2226 of the data plane app tier 2246.

The Internet gateway 2234 of the control plane VCN 2216 and of the data plane VCN 2218 can be communicatively coupled to a metadata management service 2252 that can be communicatively coupled to public Internet 2254. Public Internet 2254 can be communicatively coupled to the NAT gateway 2238 of the control plane VCN 2216 and of the data plane VCN 2218. The service gateway 2236 of the control plane VCN 2216 and of the data plane VCN 2218 can be communicatively couple to cloud services 2256.

In some examples, the service gateway 2236 of the control plane VCN 2216 or of the data plane VCN 2218 can make application programming interface (API) calls to cloud services 2256 without going through public Internet 2254. The API calls to cloud services 2256 from the service gateway 2236 can be one-way: the service gateway 2236 can make API calls to cloud services 2256, and cloud services 2256 can send requested data to the service gateway 2236. But, cloud services 2256 may not initiate API calls to the service gateway 2236.

In some examples, the secure host tenancy 2204 can be directly connected to the service tenancy 2219, which may be otherwise isolated. The secure host subnet 2208 can communicate with the SSH subnet 2214 through an LPG 2210 that may enable two-way communication over an otherwise isolated system. Connecting the secure host subnet 2208 to the SSH subnet 2214 may give the secure host subnet 2208 access to other entities within the service tenancy 2219.

The control plane VCN 2216 may allow users of the service tenancy 2219 to set up or otherwise provision desired resources. Desired resources provisioned in the control plane VCN 2216 may be deployed or otherwise used in the data plane VCN 2218. In some examples, the control plane VCN 2216 can be isolated from the data plane VCN 2218, and the data plane mirror app tier 2240 of the control plane VCN 2216 can communicate with the data plane app tier 2246 of the data plane VCN 2218 via VNICs 2242 that can be contained in the data plane mirror app tier 2240 and the data plane app tier 2246.

In some examples, users of the system, or customers, can make requests, for example create, read, update, or delete (CRUD) operations, through public Internet 2254 that can communicate the requests to the metadata management service 2252. The metadata management service 2252 can communicate the request to the control plane VCN 2216 through the Internet gateway 2234. The request can be received by the LB subnet(s) 2222 contained in the control plane DMZ tier 2220. The LB subnet(s) 2222 may determine that the request is valid, and in response to this determination, the LB subnet(s) 2222 can transmit the request to app subnet(s) 2226 contained in the control plane app tier 2224. If the request is validated and requires a call to public Internet 2254, the call to public Internet 2254 may be transmitted to the NAT gateway 2238 that can make the call to public Internet 2254. Memory that may be desired to be stored by the request can be stored in the DB subnet(s) 2230.

In some examples, the data plane mirror app tier 2240 can facilitate direct communication between the control plane VCN 2216 and the data plane VCN 2218. For example, changes, updates, or other suitable modifications to configuration may be desired to be applied to the resources contained in the data plane VCN 2218. Via a VNIC 2242, the control plane VCN 2216 can directly communicate with, and can thereby execute the changes, updates, or other suitable modifications to configuration to, resources contained in the data plane VCN 2218.

In some embodiments, the control plane VCN 2216 and the data plane VCN 2218 can be contained in the service tenancy 2219. In this case, the user, or the customer, of the system may not own or operate either the control plane VCN 2216 or the data plane VCN 2218. Instead, the IaaS provider may own or operate the control plane VCN 2216 and the data plane VCN 2218, both of which may be contained in the service tenancy 2219. This embodiment can enable isolation of networks that may prevent users or customers from interacting with other users', or other customers', resources. Also, this embodiment may allow users or customers of the system to store databases privately without needing to rely on public Internet 2254, which may not have a desired level of security, for storage.

In other embodiments, the LB subnet(s) 2222 contained in the control plane VCN 2216 can be configured to receive a signal from the service gateway 2236. In this embodiment, the control plane VCN 2216 and the data plane VCN 2218 may be configured to be called by a customer of the IaaS provider without calling public Internet 2254. Customers of the IaaS provider may desire this embodiment since database(s) that the customers use may be controlled by the IaaS provider and may be stored on the service tenancy 2219, which may be isolated from public Internet 2254.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram 2300 illustrating another example pattern of an IaaS architecture, according to at least one embodiment. Service operators 2302 (e.g. service operators 2202 of FIG. 22 ) can be communicatively coupled to a secure host tenancy 2304 (e.g. the secure host tenancy 2204 of FIG. 22 ) that can include a virtual cloud network (VCN) 2306 (e.g. the VCN 2206 of FIG. 22 ) and a secure host subnet 2308 (e.g. the secure host subnet 2208 of FIG. 22 ). The VCN 2306 can include a local peering gateway (LPG) 2310 (e.g. the LPG 2210 of FIG. 22 ) that can be communicatively coupled to a secure shell (SSH) VCN 2312 (e.g. the SSH VCN 2212 of FIG. 22 ) via an LPG 2210 contained in the SSH VCN 2312. The SSH VCN 2312 can include an SSH subnet 2314 (e.g. the SSH subnet 2214 of FIG. 22 ), and the SSH VCN 2312 can be communicatively coupled to a control plane VCN 2316 (e.g. the control plane VCN 2216 of FIG. 22 ) via an LPG 2310 contained in the control plane VCN 2316. The control plane VCN 2316 can be contained in a service tenancy 2319 (e.g. the service tenancy 2219 of FIG. 22 ), and the data plane VCN 2318 (e.g. the data plane VCN 2218 of FIG. 22 ) can be contained in a customer tenancy 2321 that may be owned or operated by users, or customers, of the system.

The control plane VCN 2316 can include a control plane DMZ tier 2320 (e.g. the control plane DMZ tier 2220 of FIG. 22 ) that can include LB subnet(s) 2322 (e.g. LB subnet(s) 2222 of FIG. 22 ), a control plane app tier 2324 (e.g. the control plane app tier 2224 of FIG. 22 ) that can include app subnet(s) 2326 (e.g. app subnet(s) 2226 of FIG. 22 ), a control plane data tier 2328 (e.g. the control plane data tier 2228 of FIG. 22 ) that can include database (DB) subnet(s) 2330 (e.g. similar to DB subnet(s) 2230 of FIG. 22 ). The LB subnet(s) 2322 contained in the control plane DMZ tier 2320 can be communicatively coupled to the app subnet(s) 2326 contained in the control plane app tier 2324 and an Internet gateway 2334 (e.g. the Internet gateway 2234 of FIG. 22 ) that can be contained in the control plane VCN 2316, and the app subnet(s) 2326 can be communicatively coupled to the DB subnet(s) 2330 contained in the control plane data tier 2328 and a service gateway 2336 (e.g. the service gateway of FIG. 22 ) and a network address translation (NAT) gateway 2338 (e.g. the NAT gateway 2238 of FIG. 22 ). The control plane VCN 2316 can include the service gateway 2336 and the NAT gateway 2338.

The control plane VCN 2316 can include a data plane mirror app tier 2340 (e.g. the data plane mirror app tier 2240 of FIG. 22 ) that can include app subnet(s) 2326. The app subnet(s) 2326 contained in the data plane mirror app tier 2340 can include a virtual network interface controller (VNIC) 2342 (e.g. the VNIC of 2242) that can execute a compute instance 2344 (e.g. similar to the compute instance 2244 of FIG. 22 ). The compute instance 2344 can facilitate communication between the app subnet(s) 2326 of the data plane mirror app tier 2340 and the app subnet(s) 2326 that can be contained in a data plane app tier 2346 (e.g. the data plane app tier 2246 of FIG. 22 ) via the VNIC 2342 contained in the data plane mirror app tier 2340 and the VNIC 2342 contained in the data plane app tier 2346.

The Internet gateway 2334 contained in the control plane VCN 2316 can be communicatively coupled to a metadata management service 2352 (e.g. the metadata management service 2252 of FIG. 22 ) that can be communicatively coupled to public Internet 2354 (e.g. public Internet 2254 of FIG. 22 ). Public Internet 2354 can be communicatively coupled to the NAT gateway 2338 contained in the control plane VCN 2316. The service gateway 2336 contained in the control plane VCN 2316 can be communicatively couple to cloud services 2356 (e.g. cloud services 2256 of FIG. 22 ).

In some examples, the data plane VCN 2318 can be contained in the customer tenancy 2321. In this case, the IaaS provider may provide the control plane VCN 2316 for each customer, and the IaaS provider may, for each customer, set up a unique compute instance 2344 that is contained in the service tenancy 2319. Each compute instance 2344 may allow communication between the control plane VCN 2316, contained in the service tenancy 2319, and the data plane VCN 2318 that is contained in the customer tenancy 2321. The compute instance 2344 may allow resources, that are provisioned in the control plane VCN 2316 that is contained in the service tenancy 2319, to be deployed or otherwise used in the data plane VCN 2318 that is contained in the customer tenancy 2321.

In other examples, the customer of the IaaS provider may have databases that live in the customer tenancy 2321. In this example, the control plane VCN 2316 can include the data plane mirror app tier 2340 that can include app subnet(s) 2326. The data plane mirror app tier 2340 can reside in the data plane VCN 2318, but the data plane mirror app tier 2340 may not live in the data plane VCN 2318. That is, the data plane mirror app tier 2340 may have access to the customer tenancy 2321, but the data plane mirror app tier 2340 may not exist in the data plane VCN 2318 or be owned or operated by the customer of the IaaS provider. The data plane mirror app tier 2340 may be configured to make calls to the data plane VCN 2318 but may not be configured to make calls to any entity contained in the control plane VCN 2316. The customer may desire to deploy or otherwise use resources in the data plane VCN 2318 that are provisioned in the control plane VCN 2316, and the data plane mirror app tier 2340 can facilitate the desired deployment, or other usage of resources, of the customer.

In some embodiments, the customer of the IaaS provider can apply filters to the data plane VCN 2318. In this embodiment, the customer can determine what the data plane VCN 2318 can access, and the customer may restrict access to public Internet 2354 from the data plane VCN 2318. The IaaS provider may not be able to apply filters or otherwise control access of the data plane VCN 2318 to any outside networks or databases. Applying filters and controls by the customer onto the data plane VCN 2318, contained in the customer tenancy 2321, can help isolate the data plane VCN 2318 from other customers and from public Internet 2354.

In some embodiments, cloud services 2356 can be called by the service gateway 2336 to access services that may not exist on public Internet 2354, on the control plane VCN 2316, or on the data plane VCN 2318. The connection between cloud services 2356 and the control plane VCN 2316 or the data plane VCN 2318 may not be live or continuous. Cloud services 2356 may exist on a different network owned or operated by the IaaS provider. Cloud services 2356 may be configured to receive calls from the service gateway 2336 and may be configured to not receive calls from public Internet 2354. Some cloud services 2356 may be isolated from other cloud services 2356, and the control plane VCN 2316 may be isolated from cloud services 2356 that may not be in the same region as the control plane VCN 2316. For example, the control plane VCN 2316 may be located in “Region 1,” and cloud service “Deployment 22,” may be located in Region 1 and in “Region 2.” If a call to Deployment 22 is made by the service gateway 2336 contained in the control plane VCN 2316 located in Region 1, the call may be transmitted to Deployment 22 in Region 1. In this example, the control plane VCN 2316, or Deployment 22 in Region 1, may not be communicatively coupled to, or otherwise in communication with, Deployment 22 in Region 2.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram 2400 illustrating another example pattern of an IaaS architecture, according to at least one embodiment. Service operators 2402 (e.g. service operators 2202 of FIG. 22 ) can be communicatively coupled to a secure host tenancy 2404 (e.g. the secure host tenancy 2204 of FIG. 22 ) that can include a virtual cloud network (VCN) 2406 (e.g. the VCN 2206 of FIG. 22 ) and a secure host subnet 2408 (e.g. the secure host subnet 2208 of FIG. 22 ). The VCN 2406 can include an LPG 2410 (e.g. the LPG 2210 of FIG. 22 ) that can be communicatively coupled to an SSH VCN 2412 (e.g. the SSH VCN 2212 of FIG. 22 ) via an LPG 2410 contained in the SSH VCN 2412. The SSH VCN 2412 can include an SSH subnet 2414 (e.g. the SSH subnet 2214 of FIG. 22 ), and the SSH VCN 2412 can be communicatively coupled to a control plane VCN 2416 (e.g. the control plane VCN 2216 of FIG. 22 ) via an LPG 2410 contained in the control plane VCN 2416 and to a data plane VCN 2418 (e.g. the data plane 2218 of FIG. 22 ) via an LPG 2410 contained in the data plane VCN 2418. The control plane VCN 2416 and the data plane VCN 2418 can be contained in a service tenancy 2419 (e.g. the service tenancy 2219 of FIG. 22 ).

The control plane VCN 2416 can include a control plane DMZ tier 2420 (e.g. the control plane DMZ tier 2220 of FIG. 22 ) that can include load balancer (LB) subnet(s) 2422 (e.g. LB subnet(s) 2222 of FIG. 22 ), a control plane app tier 2424 (e.g. the control plane app tier 2224 of FIG. 22 ) that can include app subnet(s) 2426 (e.g. similar to app subnet(s) 2226 of FIG. 22 ), a control plane data tier 2428 (e.g. the control plane data tier 2228 of FIG. 22 ) that can include DB subnet(s) 2430. The LB subnet(s) 2422 contained in the control plane DMZ tier 2420 can be communicatively coupled to the app subnet(s) 2426 contained in the control plane app tier 2424 and to an Internet gateway 2434 (e.g. the Internet gateway 2234 of FIG. 22 ) that can be contained in the control plane VCN 2416, and the app subnet(s) 2426 can be communicatively coupled to the DB subnet(s) 2430 contained in the control plane data tier 2428 and to a service gateway 2436 (e.g. the service gateway of FIG. 22 ) and a network address translation (NAT) gateway 2438 (e.g. the NAT gateway 2238 of FIG. 22 ). The control plane VCN 2416 can include the service gateway 2436 and the NAT gateway 2438.

The data plane VCN 2418 can include a data plane app tier 2446 (e.g. the data plane app tier 2246 of FIG. 22 ), a data plane DMZ tier 2448 (e.g. the data plane DMZ tier 2248 of FIG. 22 ), and a data plane data tier 2450 (e.g. the data plane data tier 2250 of FIG. 22 ). The data plane DMZ tier 2448 can include LB subnet(s) 2422 that can be communicatively coupled to trusted app subnet(s) 2460 and untrusted app subnet(s) 2462 of the data plane app tier 2446 and the Internet gateway 2434 contained in the data plane VCN 2418. The trusted app subnet(s) 2460 can be communicatively coupled to the service gateway 2436 contained in the data plane VCN 2418, the NAT gateway 2438 contained in the data plane VCN 2418, and DB subnet(s) 2430 contained in the data plane data tier 2450. The untrusted app subnet(s) 2462 can be communicatively coupled to the service gateway 2436 contained in the data plane VCN 2418 and DB subnet(s) 2430 contained in the data plane data tier 2450. The data plane data tier 2450 can include DB subnet(s) 2430 that can be communicatively coupled to the service gateway 2436 contained in the data plane VCN 2418.

The untrusted app subnet(s) 2462 can include one or more primary VNICs 2464(1)-(N) that can be communicatively coupled to tenant virtual machines (VMs) 2466(1)-(N). Each tenant VM 2466(1)-(N) can be communicatively coupled to a respective app subnet 2467(1)-(N) that can be contained in respective container egress VCNs 2468(1)-(N) that can be contained in respective customer tenancies 2470(1)-(N). Respective secondary VNICs 2472(1)-(N) can facilitate communication between the untrusted app subnet(s) 2462 contained in the data plane VCN 2418 and the app subnet contained in the container egress VCNs 2468(1)-(N). Each container egress VCNs 2468(1)-(N) can include a NAT gateway 2438 that can be communicatively coupled to public Internet 2454 (e.g. public Internet 2254 of FIG. 22 ).

The Internet gateway 2434 contained in the control plane VCN 2416 and contained in the data plane VCN 2418 can be communicatively coupled to a metadata management service 2452 (e.g. the metadata management system 2252 of FIG. 22 ) that can be communicatively coupled to public Internet 2454. Public Internet 2454 can be communicatively coupled to the NAT gateway 2438 contained in the control plane VCN 2416 and contained in the data plane VCN 2418. The service gateway 2436 contained in the control plane VCN 2416 and contained in the data plane VCN 2418 can be communicatively couple to cloud services 2456.

In some embodiments, the data plane VCN 2418 can be integrated with customer tenancies 2470. This integration can be useful or desirable for customers of the IaaS provider in some cases such as a case that may desire support when executing code. The customer may provide code to run that may be destructive, may communicate with other customer resources, or may otherwise cause undesirable effects. In response to this, the IaaS provider may determine whether to run code given to the IaaS provider by the customer.

In some examples, the customer of the IaaS provider may grant temporary network access to the IaaS provider and request a function to be attached to the data plane tier app 2446. Code to run the function may be executed in the VMs 2466(1)-(N), and the code may not be configured to run anywhere else on the data plane VCN 2418. Each VM 2466(1)-(N) may be connected to one customer tenancy 2470. Respective containers 2471(1)-(N) contained in the VMs 2466(1)-(N) may be configured to run the code. In this case, there can be a dual isolation (e.g., the containers 2471(1)-(N) running code, where the containers 2471(1)-(N) may be contained in at least the VM 2466(1)-(N) that are contained in the untrusted app subnet(s) 2462), which may help prevent incorrect or otherwise undesirable code from damaging the network of the IaaS provider or from damaging a network of a different customer. The containers 2471(1)-(N) may be communicatively coupled to the customer tenancy 2470 and may be configured to transmit or receive data from the customer tenancy 2470. The containers 2471(1)-(N) may not be configured to transmit or receive data from any other entity in the data plane VCN 2418. Upon completion of running the code, the IaaS provider may kill or otherwise dispose of the containers 2471(1)-(N).

In some embodiments, the trusted app subnet(s) 2460 may run code that may be owned or operated by the IaaS provider. In this embodiment, the trusted app subnet(s) 2460 may be communicatively coupled to the DB subnet(s) 2430 and be configured to execute CRUD operations in the DB subnet(s) 2430. The untrusted app subnet(s) 2462 may be communicatively coupled to the DB subnet(s) 2430, but in this embodiment, the untrusted app subnet(s) may be configured to execute read operations in the DB subnet(s) 2430. The containers 2471(1)-(N) that can be contained in the VM 2466(1)-(N) of each customer and that may run code from the customer may not be communicatively coupled with the DB subnet(s) 2430.

In other embodiments, the control plane VCN 2416 and the data plane VCN 2418 may not be directly communicatively coupled. In this embodiment, there may be no direct communication between the control plane VCN 2416 and the data plane VCN 2418. However, communication can occur indirectly through at least one method. An LPG 2410 may be established by the IaaS provider that can facilitate communication between the control plane VCN 2416 and the data plane VCN 2418. In another example, the control plane VCN 2416 or the data plane VCN 2418 can make a call to cloud services 2456 via the service gateway 2436. For example, a call to cloud services 2456 from the control plane VCN 2416 can include a request for a service that can communicate with the data plane VCN 2418.

FIG. 25 is a block diagram 2500 illustrating another example pattern of an IaaS architecture, according to at least one embodiment. Service operators 2502 (e.g. service operators 2202 of FIG. 22 ) can be communicatively coupled to a secure host tenancy 2504 (e.g. the secure host tenancy 2204 of FIG. 22 ) that can include a virtual cloud network (VCN) 2506 (e.g. the VCN 2206 of FIG. 22 ) and a secure host subnet 2508 (e.g. the secure host subnet 2208 of FIG. 22 ). The VCN 2506 can include an LPG 2510 (e.g. the LPG 2210 of FIG. 22 ) that can be communicatively coupled to an SSH VCN 2512 (e.g. the SSH VCN 2212 of FIG. 22 ) via an LPG 2510 contained in the SSH VCN 2512. The SSH VCN 2512 can include an SSH subnet 2514 (e.g. the SSH subnet 2214 of FIG. 22 ), and the SSH VCN 2512 can be communicatively coupled to a control plane VCN 2516 (e.g. the control plane VCN 2216 of FIG. 22 ) via an LPG 2510 contained in the control plane VCN 2516 and to a data plane VCN 2518 (e.g. the data plane 2218 of FIG. 22 ) via an LPG 2510 contained in the data plane VCN 2518. The control plane VCN 2516 and the data plane VCN 2518 can be contained in a service tenancy 2519 (e.g. the service tenancy 2219 of FIG. 22 ).

The control plane VCN 2516 can include a control plane DMZ tier 2520 (e.g. the control plane DMZ tier 2220 of FIG. 22 ) that can include LB subnet(s) 2522 (e.g. LB subnet(s) 2222 of FIG. 22 ), a control plane app tier 2524 (e.g. the control plane app tier 2224 of FIG. 22 ) that can include app subnet(s) 2526 (e.g. app subnet(s) 2226 of FIG. 22 ), a control plane data tier 2528 (e.g. the control plane data tier 2228 of FIG. 22 ) that can include DB subnet(s) 2530 (e.g. DB subnet(s) 2430 of FIG. 24 ). The LB subnet(s) 2522 contained in the control plane DMZ tier 2520 can be communicatively coupled to the app subnet(s) 2526 contained in the control plane app tier 2524 and to an Internet gateway 2534 (e.g. the Internet gateway 2234 of FIG. 22 ) that can be contained in the control plane VCN 2516, and the app subnet(s) 2526 can be communicatively coupled to the DB subnet(s) 2530 contained in the control plane data tier 2528 and to a service gateway 2536 (e.g. the service gateway of FIG. 22 ) and a network address translation (NAT) gateway 2538 (e.g. the NAT gateway 2238 of FIG. 22 ). The control plane VCN 2516 can include the service gateway 2536 and the NAT gateway 2538.

The data plane VCN 2518 can include a data plane app tier 2546 (e.g. the data plane app tier 2246 of FIG. 22 ), a data plane DMZ tier 2548 (e.g. the data plane DMZ tier 2248 of FIG. 22 ), and a data plane data tier 2550 (e.g. the data plane data tier 2250 of FIG. 22 ). The data plane DMZ tier 2548 can include LB subnet(s) 2522 that can be communicatively coupled to trusted app subnet(s) 2560 (e.g. trusted app subnet(s) 2460 of FIG. 24 ) and untrusted app subnet(s) 2562 (e.g. untrusted app subnet(s) 2462 of FIG. 24 ) of the data plane app tier 2546 and the Internet gateway 2534 contained in the data plane VCN 2518. The trusted app subnet(s) 2560 can be communicatively coupled to the service gateway 2536 contained in the data plane VCN 2518, the NAT gateway 2538 contained in the data plane VCN 2518, and DB subnet(s) 2530 contained in the data plane data tier 2550. The untrusted app subnet(s) 2562 can be communicatively coupled to the service gateway 2536 contained in the data plane VCN 2518 and DB subnet(s) 2530 contained in the data plane data tier 2550. The data plane data tier 2550 can include DB subnet(s) 2530 that can be communicatively coupled to the service gateway 2536 contained in the data plane VCN 2518.

The untrusted app subnet(s) 2562 can include primary VNICs 2564(1)-(N) that can be communicatively coupled to tenant virtual machines (VMs) 2566(1)-(N) residing within the untrusted app subnet(s) 2562. Each tenant VM 2566(1)-(N) can run code in a respective container 2567(1)-(N), and be communicatively coupled to an app subnet 2526 that can be contained in a data plane app tier 2546 that can be contained in a container egress VCN 2568. Respective secondary VNICs 2572(1)-(N) can facilitate communication between the untrusted app subnet(s) 2562 contained in the data plane VCN 2518 and the app subnet contained in the container egress VCN 2568. The container egress VCN can include a NAT gateway 2538 that can be communicatively coupled to public Internet 2554 (e.g. public Internet 2254 of FIG. 22 ).

The Internet gateway 2534 contained in the control plane VCN 2516 and contained in the data plane VCN 2518 can be communicatively coupled to a metadata management service 2552 (e.g. the metadata management system 2252 of FIG. 22 ) that can be communicatively coupled to public Internet 2554. Public Internet 2554 can be communicatively coupled to the NAT gateway 2538 contained in the control plane VCN 2516 and contained in the data plane VCN 2518. The service gateway 2536 contained in the control plane VCN 2516 and contained in the data plane VCN 2518 can be communicatively couple to cloud services 2556.

In some examples, the pattern illustrated by the architecture of block diagram 2500 of FIG. 25 may be considered an exception to the pattern illustrated by the architecture of block diagram 2400 of FIG. 24 and may be desirable for a customer of the IaaS provider if the IaaS provider cannot directly communicate with the customer (e.g., a disconnected region). The respective containers 2567(1)-(N) that are contained in the VMs 2566(1)-(N) for each customer can be accessed in real-time by the customer. The containers 2567(1)-(N) may be configured to make calls to respective secondary VNICs 2572(1)-(N) contained in app subnet(s) 2526 of the data plane app tier 2546 that can be contained in the container egress VCN 2568. The secondary VNICs 2572(1)-(N) can transmit the calls to the NAT gateway 2538 that may transmit the calls to public Internet 2554. In this example, the containers 2567(1)-(N) that can be accessed in real-time by the customer can be isolated from the control plane VCN 2516 and can be isolated from other entities contained in the data plane VCN 2518. The containers 2567(1)-(N) may also be isolated from resources from other customers.

In other examples, the customer can use the containers 2567(1)-(N) to call cloud services 2556. In this example, the customer may run code in the containers 2567(1)-(N) that requests a service from cloud services 2556. The containers 2567(1)-(N) can transmit this request to the secondary VNICs 2572(1)-(N) that can transmit the request to the NAT gateway that can transmit the request to public Internet 2554. Public Internet 2554 can transmit the request to LB subnet(s) 2522 contained in the control plane VCN 2516 via the Internet gateway 2534. In response to determining the request is valid, the LB subnet(s) can transmit the request to app subnet(s) 2526 that can transmit the request to cloud services 2556 via the service gateway 2536.

It should be appreciated that IaaS architectures 2200, 2300, 2400, 2500 depicted in the figures may have other components than those depicted. Further, the embodiments shown in the figures are only some examples of a cloud infrastructure system that may incorporate an embodiment of the disclosure. In some other embodiments, the IaaS systems may have more or fewer components than shown in the figures, may combine two or more components, or may have a different configuration or arrangement of components.

In certain embodiments, the IaaS systems described herein may include a suite of applications, middleware, and database service offerings that are delivered to a customer in a self-service, subscription-based, elastically scalable, reliable, highly available, and secure manner. An example of such an IaaS system is the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) provided by the present assignee.

FIG. 26 illustrates an example computer system 2600, in which various embodiments may be implemented. The system 2600 may be used to implement any of the computer systems described above. As shown in the figure, computer system 2600 includes a processing unit 2604 that communicates with a number of peripheral subsystems via a bus subsystem 2602. These peripheral subsystems may include a processing acceleration unit 2606, an I/O subsystem 2608, a storage subsystem 2618 and a communications subsystem 2624. Storage subsystem 2618 includes tangible computer-readable storage media 2622 and a system memory 2610.

Bus subsystem 2602 provides a mechanism for letting the various components and subsystems of computer system 2600 communicate with each other as intended. Although bus subsystem 2602 is shown schematically as a single bus, alternative embodiments of the bus subsystem may utilize multiple buses. Bus subsystem 2602 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. For example, such architectures may include an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, which can be implemented as a Mezzanine bus manufactured to the IEEE P1386.1 standard.

Processing unit 2604, which can be implemented as one or more integrated circuits (e.g., a conventional microprocessor or microcontroller), controls the operation of computer system 2600. One or more processors may be included in processing unit 2604. These processors may include single core or multicore processors. In certain embodiments, processing unit 2604 may be implemented as one or more independent processing units 2632 and/or 2634 with single or multicore processors included in each processing unit. In other embodiments, processing unit 2604 may also be implemented as a quad-core processing unit formed by integrating two dual-core processors into a single chip.

In various embodiments, processing unit 2604 can execute a variety of programs in response to program code and can maintain multiple concurrently executing programs or processes. At any given time, some or all of the program code to be executed can be resident in processor(s) 2604 and/or in storage subsystem 2618. Through suitable programming, processor(s) 2604 can provide various functionalities described above. Computer system 2600 may additionally include a processing acceleration unit 2606, which can include a digital signal processor (DSP), a special-purpose processor, and/or the like.

I/O subsystem 2608 may include user interface input devices and user interface output devices. User interface input devices may include a keyboard, pointing devices such as a mouse or trackball, a touchpad or touch screen incorporated into a display, a scroll wheel, a click wheel, a dial, a button, a switch, a keypad, audio input devices with voice command recognition systems, microphones, and other types of input devices. User interface input devices may include, for example, motion sensing and/or gesture recognition devices such as the Microsoft Kinect® motion sensor that enables users to control and interact with an input device, such as the Microsoft Xbox® 360 game controller, through a natural user interface using gestures and spoken commands. User interface input devices may also include eye gesture recognition devices such as the Google Glass® blink detector that detects eye activity (e.g., ‘blinking’ while taking pictures and/or making a menu selection) from users and transforms the eye gestures as input into an input device (e.g., Google Glass®). Additionally, user interface input devices may include voice recognition sensing devices that enable users to interact with voice recognition systems (e.g., Siri® navigator), through voice commands.

User interface input devices may also include, without limitation, three dimensional (3D) mice, joysticks or pointing sticks, gamepads and graphic tablets, and audio/visual devices such as speakers, digital cameras, digital camcorders, portable media players, webcams, image scanners, fingerprint scanners, barcode reader 3D scanners, 3D printers, laser rangefinders, and eye gaze tracking devices. Additionally, user interface input devices may include, for example, medical imaging input devices such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, position emission tomography, medical ultrasonography devices. User interface input devices may also include, for example, audio input devices such as MIDI keyboards, digital musical instruments and the like.

User interface output devices may include a display subsystem, indicator lights, or non-visual displays such as audio output devices, etc. The display subsystem may be a cathode ray tube (CRT), a flat-panel device, such as that using a liquid crystal display (LCD) or plasma display, a projection device, a touch screen, and the like. In general, use of the term “output device” is intended to include all possible types of devices and mechanisms for outputting information from computer system 2600 to a user or other computer. For example, user interface output devices may include, without limitation, a variety of display devices that visually convey text, graphics and audio/video information such as monitors, printers, speakers, headphones, automotive navigation systems, plotters, voice output devices, and modems.

Computer system 2600 may comprise a storage subsystem 2618 that comprises software elements, shown as being currently located within a system memory 2610. System memory 2610 may store program instructions that are loadable and executable on processing unit 2604, as well as data generated during the execution of these programs.

Depending on the configuration and type of computer system 2600, system memory 2610 may be volatile (such as random access memory (RAM)) and/or non-volatile (such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, etc.) The RAM typically contains data and/or program modules that are immediately accessible to and/or presently being operated and executed by processing unit 2604. In some implementations, system memory 2610 may include multiple different types of memory, such as static random access memory (SRAM) or dynamic random access memory (DRAM). In some implementations, a basic input/output system (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within computer system 2600, such as during start-up, may typically be stored in the ROM. By way of example, and not limitation, system memory 2610 also illustrates application programs 2612, which may include client applications, Web browsers, mid-tier applications, relational database management systems (RDBMS), etc., program data 2614, and an operating system 2616. By way of example, operating system 2616 may include various versions of Microsoft Windows®, Apple Macintosh®, and/or Linux operating systems, a variety of commercially-available UNIX® or UNIX-like operating systems (including without limitation the variety of GNU/Linux operating systems, the Google Chrome® OS, and the like) and/or mobile operating systems such as iOS, Windows® Phone, Android® OS, BlackBerry® 26 OS, and Palm® OS operating systems.

Storage subsystem 2618 may also provide a tangible computer-readable storage medium for storing the basic programming and data constructs that provide the functionality of some embodiments. Software (programs, code modules, instructions) that when executed by a processor provide the functionality described above may be stored in storage subsystem 2618. These software modules or instructions may be executed by processing unit 2604. Storage subsystem 2618 may also provide a repository for storing data used in accordance with the present disclosure.

Storage subsystem 2600 may also include a computer-readable storage media reader 2620 that can further be connected to computer-readable storage media 2622. Together and, optionally, in combination with system memory 2610, computer-readable storage media 2622 may comprehensively represent remote, local, fixed, and/or removable storage devices plus storage media for temporarily and/or more permanently containing, storing, transmitting, and retrieving computer-readable information.

Computer-readable storage media 2622 containing code, or portions of code, can also include any appropriate media known or used in the art, including storage media and communication media, such as but not limited to, volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage and/or transmission of information. This can include tangible computer-readable storage media such as RAM, ROM, electronically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disk (DVD), or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or other tangible computer readable media. This can also include nontangible computer-readable media, such as data signals, data transmissions, or any other medium which can be used to transmit the desired information and which can be accessed by computing system 2600.

By way of example, computer-readable storage media 2622 may include a hard disk drive that reads from or writes to non-removable, nonvolatile magnetic media, a magnetic disk drive that reads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile magnetic disk, and an optical disk drive that reads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile optical disk such as a CD ROM, DVD, and Blu-Ray® disk, or other optical media. Computer-readable storage media 2622 may include, but is not limited to, Zip® drives, flash memory cards, universal serial bus (USB) flash drives, secure digital (SD) cards, DVD disks, digital video tape, and the like. Computer-readable storage media 2622 may also include, solid-state drives (SSD) based on non-volatile memory such as flash-memory based SSDs, enterprise flash drives, solid state ROM, and the like, SSDs based on volatile memory such as solid state RAM, dynamic RAM, static RAM, DRAM-based SSDs, magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM) SSDs, and hybrid SSDs that use a combination of DRAM and flash memory based SSDs. The disk drives and their associated computer-readable media may provide non-volatile storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, and other data for computer system 2600.

Communications subsystem 2624 provides an interface to other computer systems and networks. Communications subsystem 2624 serves as an interface for receiving data from and transmitting data to other systems from computer system 2600. For example, communications subsystem 2624 may enable computer system 2600 to connect to one or more devices via the Internet. In some embodiments communications subsystem 2624 can include radio frequency (RF) transceiver components for accessing wireless voice and/or data networks (e.g., using cellular telephone technology, advanced data network technology, such as 3G, 4G or EDGE (enhanced data rates for global evolution), WiFi (IEEE 802.11 family standards, or other mobile communication technologies, or any combination thereof), global positioning system (GPS) receiver components, and/or other components. In some embodiments communications subsystem 2624 can provide wired network connectivity (e.g., Ethernet) in addition to or instead of a wireless interface.

In some embodiments, communications subsystem 2624 may also receive input communication in the form of structured and/or unstructured data feeds 2626, event streams 2628, event updates 2630, and the like on behalf of one or more users who may use computer system 2600.

By way of example, communications subsystem 2624 may be configured to receive data feeds 2626 in real-time from users of social networks and/or other communication services such as Twitter® feeds, Facebook® updates, web feeds such as Rich Site Summary (RSS) feeds, and/or real-time updates from one or more third party information sources.

Additionally, communications subsystem 2624 may also be configured to receive data in the form of continuous data streams, which may include event streams 2628 of real-time events and/or event updates 2630, that may be continuous or unbounded in nature with no explicit end. Examples of applications that generate continuous data may include, for example, sensor data applications, financial tickers, network performance measuring tools (e.g. network monitoring and traffic management applications), clickstream analysis tools, automobile traffic monitoring, and the like.

Communications subsystem 2624 may also be configured to output the structured and/or unstructured data feeds 2626, event streams 2628, event updates 2630, and the like to one or more databases that may be in communication with one or more streaming data source computers coupled to computer system 2600.

Computer system 2600 can be one of various types, including a handheld portable device (e.g., an iPhone® cellular phone, an iPad® computing tablet, a PDA), a wearable device (e.g., a Google Glass® head mounted display), a PC, a workstation, a mainframe, a kiosk, a server rack, or any other data processing system.

In the foregoing description, for the purposes of explanation, specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of examples of the disclosure. However, it will be apparent that various examples may be practiced without these specific details. The ensuing description provides examples only and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the disclosure. Rather, the ensuing description of the examples will provide those skilled in the art with an enabling description for implementing an example. It should be understood that various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as set forth in the appended claims. The figures and description are not intended to be restrictive. Circuits, systems, networks, processes, and other components may be shown as components in block diagram form in order not to obscure the examples in unnecessary detail. In other instances, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques may be shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the examples. The teachings disclosed herein can also be applied to various types of applications such as mobile applications, non-mobile applications, desktop applications, web applications, enterprise applications, and the like. Further, the teachings of this disclosure are not restricted to a particular operating environment (e.g., operating systems, devices, platforms, and the like), but instead can be applied to multiple different operating environments.

Also, it is noted that individual examples may be described as a process which is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations may be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be rearranged. A process is terminated when its operations are completed, but the process could have additional steps not included in a figure. A process may correspond to a method, a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, and so on. When a process corresponds to a function, its termination may correspond to a return of the function to the calling function or the main function.

The word “example” and “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment or design described herein as “exemplary” or “example” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs.

The term “machine-readable storage medium” or “computer-readable storage medium” includes, but is not limited to, portable or non-portable storage devices, optical storage devices, and various other mediums capable of storing, containing, or carrying instruction(s) and/or data. A machine-readable storage medium or computer-readable storage medium may include a non-transitory medium in which data may be stored and which does not include carrier waves and/or transitory electronic signals propagating wirelessly or over wired connections. Examples of a non-transitory medium may include, but are not limited to, a magnetic disk or tape, optical storage media such as compact disk (CD) or digital versatile disk (DVD), flash memory, or memory or memory devices. A computer-program product may include code and/or machine-executable instructions that may represent a procedure, a function, a subprogram, a program, a routine, a subroutine, a module, a software package, a class, or any combination of instructions, data structures, or program statements. A code segment may be coupled to another code segment or a hardware circuit by passing and/or receiving information, data, arguments, parameters, or memory contents. Information, arguments, parameters, data, and so forth may be passed, forwarded, or transmitted via any suitable means including memory sharing, message passing, token passing, network transmission, and so forth.

Furthermore, examples may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, firmware, middleware, or microcode, the program code or code segments to perform the necessary tasks (e.g., a computer-program product) may be stored in a machine-readable medium. A processor(s) may perform the necessary tasks. Systems depicted in some of the figures may be provided in various configurations. In some examples, the systems may be configured as a distributed system where one or more components of the system are distributed across one or more networks in a cloud computing system. Where components are described as being “configured to” perform certain operations, such configuration may be accomplished, for example, by designing electronic circuits or other hardware to perform the operation, by programming or controlling electronic circuits (e.g., microprocessors or other suitable electronic circuits) to perform the operation, or any combination thereof.

Although specific embodiments of the disclosure have been described, various modifications, alterations, alternative constructions, and equivalents are also encompassed within the scope of the disclosure. Embodiments of the present disclosure are not restricted to operation within certain specific data processing environments, but are free to operate within a plurality of data processing environments. Additionally, although embodiments of the present disclosure have been described using a particular series of transactions and steps, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the scope of the present disclosure is not limited to the described series of transactions and steps. Various features and aspects of the above-described embodiments may be used individually or jointly.

Further, while embodiments of the present disclosure have been described using a particular combination of hardware and software, it should be recognized that other combinations of hardware and software are also within the scope of the present disclosure. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented only in hardware, or only in software, or using combinations thereof. The various processes described herein can be implemented on the same processor or different processors in any combination. Accordingly, where components or modules are described as being configured to perform certain operations, such configuration can be accomplished, e.g., by designing electronic circuits to perform the operation, by programming programmable electronic circuits (such as microprocessors) to perform the operation, or any combination thereof. Processes can communicate using a variety of techniques including, but not limited to, conventional techniques for inter process communication, and different pairs of processes may use different techniques, or the same pair of processes may use different techniques at different times.

The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. It will, however, be evident that additions, subtractions, deletions, and other modifications and changes may be made thereunto without departing from the broader spirit and scope as set forth in the claims. Thus, although specific disclosure embodiments have been described, these are not intended to be limiting. Various modifications and equivalents are within the scope of the following claims.

The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in the context of describing the disclosed embodiments (especially in the context of the following claims) are to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. The terms “comprising,” “having,” “including,” and “containing” are to be construed as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning “including, but not limited to,”) unless otherwise noted. The term “connected” is to be construed as partly or wholly contained within, attached to, or joined together, even if there is something intervening. Recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein and each separate value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. All methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”) provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate embodiments of the disclosure and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the disclosure unless otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any non-claimed element as essential to the practice of the disclosure.

Disjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y, or Z,” unless specifically stated otherwise, is intended to be understood within the context as used in general to present that an item, term, etc., may be either X, Y, or Z, or any combination thereof (e.g., X, Y, and/or Z). Thus, such disjunctive language is not generally intended to, and should not, imply that certain embodiments require at least one of X, at least one of Y, or at least one of Z to each be present.

Preferred embodiments of this disclosure are described herein, including the best mode known for carrying out the disclosure. Variations of those preferred embodiments may become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the foregoing description. Those of ordinary skill should be able to employ such variations as appropriate and the disclosure may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein. Accordingly, this disclosure includes all modifications and equivalents of the subject matter recited in the claims appended hereto as permitted by applicable law. Moreover, any combination of the above-described elements in all possible variations thereof is encompassed by the disclosure unless otherwise indicated herein.

All references, including publications, patent applications, and patents, cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each reference were individually and specifically indicated to be incorporated by reference and were set forth in its entirety herein.

In the foregoing specification, aspects of the disclosure are described with reference to specific embodiments thereof, but those skilled in the art will recognize that the disclosure is not limited thereto. Various features and aspects of the above-described disclosure may be used individually or jointly. Further, embodiments can be utilized in any number of environments and applications beyond those described herein without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the specification. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a first virtual network configured for a customer, the first virtual network comprising a first resource that has a first Internet Protocol (IP) address and a first interface having a second IP address; a second virtual network configured for a service provider, the second virtual network comprising a second resource that has a third IP address and a second interface having a fourth IP address, the second resource is configured to provide a service to the customer; and one or more network resources separate from the first virtual network and the second virtual network, the one or more network resources having a third interface and a fourth interface, the one or more network resources configured to: receive, at the fourth interface, a packet from the second interface, the packet having a destination address of the fourth IP address; determine, based on address translation information for the fourth IP address, that the packet has a destination of the first resource; update a source address of the packet to the second IP address and the destination address of the packet to the first IP address; and send, from the third interface, the packet to the first interface.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the third interface is configured to communicate with the first interface, and wherein the fourth interface is configured to communicate with the second interface.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the first interface is configured to forward packets from the first virtual network to the third interface, and wherein the second interface is configured to forward packets from the second virtual network to the fourth interface.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein a first IP address range of the first virtual network overlaps with a second IP address range of the second virtual network.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the packet includes real application cluster data for the service.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the packet also has a source address of the third IP address, and wherein determining that the packet has a destination of the first resource is further based on address translation information for the second IP address.
 7. The system of claim 1, the one or more network resources are further configured to: receive, at the third interface, a second packet from the first interface, the second packet having a second destination address of the second IP address; determine, based on address translation information for the second IP address, that the second packet has a destination of the second resource; update a second source address of the second packet to the fourth IP address and the second destination address of the second packet to the third IP address; and send, from the fourth interface, the packet to the second interface.
 8. A method comprising: receiving, at a fourth interface of one or more network resources, a packet from a second interface, the packet having a destination address of a fourth Internet Protocol (IP) address, wherein: the one or more network resources are separate from a first virtual network and a second virtual network, the one or more network resources having a third interface and the fourth interface; the first virtual network is configured for a customer, the first virtual network comprising a first resource that has a first IP address and a first interface having a second IP address; and the second virtual network is configured for a service provider, the second virtual network comprising a second resource that has a third IP address and the second interface having the fourth IP address, the second resource is configured to provide a service to the customer; determining, based on address translation information for the fourth IP address, that the packet has a destination of the first resource; updating a source address of the packet to the second IP address and the destination address of the packet to the first IP address; and sending, from the third interface, the packet to the first interface.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the third interface is configured to communicate with the first interface, and wherein the fourth interface is configured to communicate with the second interface.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first interface is configured to forward packets from the first virtual network to the third interface, and wherein the second interface is configured to forward packets from the second virtual network to the fourth interface.
 11. The method of claim 8, wherein a first IP address range of the first virtual network overlaps with a second IP address range of the second virtual network.
 12. The method of claim 8, wherein the packet includes real application cluster data for the service.
 13. The method of claim 8, wherein the packet also has a source address of the third IP address, and wherein determining that the packet has a destination of the first resource is further based on address translation information for the second IP address.
 14. The method of claim 8, further comprising: receiving, at the third interface, a second packet from the first interface, the second packet having a second destination address of the second IP address; determining, based on address translation information for the second IP address, that the second packet has a destination of the second resource; updating a second source address of the second packet to the fourth IP address and the second destination address of the second packet to the third IP address; and sending, from the fourth interface, the packet to the second interface.
 15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, upon execution by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: receiving, at a fourth interface of one or more network resources, a packet from a second interface, the packet having a destination address of a fourth Internet Protocol (IP) address, wherein: the one or more network resources are separate from a first virtual network and a second virtual network, the one or more network resources having a third interface and the fourth interface; the first virtual network is configured for a customer, the first virtual network comprising a first resource that has a first IP address and a first interface having a second IP address; and the second virtual network is configured for a service provider, the second virtual network comprising a second resource that has a third IP address and the second interface having the fourth IP address, the second resource is configured to provide a service to the customer; determining, based on address translation information for the fourth IP address, that the packet has a destination of the first resource; updating a source address of the packet to the second IP address and the destination address of the packet to the first IP address; and sending, from the third interface, the packet to the first interface.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the third interface is configured to communicate with the first interface, and wherein the fourth interface is configured to communicate with the second interface.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the first interface is configured to forward packets from the first virtual network to the third interface, and wherein the second interface is configured to forward packets from the second virtual network to the fourth interface.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein a first IP address range of the first virtual network overlaps with a second IP address range of the second virtual network.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the packet also has a source address of the third IP address, and wherein determining that the packet has a destination of the first resource is further based on address translation information for the second IP address.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 15, storing further instructions that, upon execution by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform further operations comprising: receiving, at the third interface, a second packet from the first interface, the second packet having a second destination address of the second IP address; determining, based on address translation information for the second IP address, that the second packet has a destination of the second resource; updating a second source address of the second packet to the fourth IP address and the second destination address of the second packet to the third IP address; and sending, from the fourth interface, the packet to the second interface. 